Customs Officials Foil Sensational Fake Pokémon Shipment Headed for the Netherlands

Over the past few months, the iconic franchise of Pokémon has seen a resurgence with its fan-favorite trading cards at the center of it all. Since the late 90s, these cards have grown in value, with some of them even worth six figures. This has made them highly attractive to many avid collectors. However, it has also caught the ire of counterfeiters around the world as well.

Recently, authorities seized a major counterfeit shipment of Pokémon cards headed to the Netherlands. Fans and collectors might have heard about such stories in their vicinity. However, they may have never heard about a haul quite like this in their life.

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7.6 tons of Pokémon cards seized by Chinese officials

Chinese state affiliated media, Yicai Global recently reported on a massive fake shipment of Pokémon cards in the country. According to the reports, customs officials of the country seized a shipment weighing over 7.6 tons. The shipment included twenty boxes of counterfeit cards of the highly popular franchise.

Furthermore, Yicai Global also mentioned that the officials intercepted the shipment of Pokémon cards from the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. The report also stated that the shipment bound for the European country of Netherlands was from a company in the country’s eastern province of Qingdao. According to many officials, it’s one of the biggest fake IP hauls in recent history.

The valuable card world

Ever since YouTuber Logan Paul splurged huge on a Shadowless first edition Charizard, Pokémon cards have jumped in value drastically. Ever since fans collected them since the late 90s, the franchise has spawned many iconic valuable collections. While many character cards have reached four and five figures, some high quality graded Pokémon cards have topped that by hitting the six-figure mark as well.

With values continuing to rise, fans will see more counterfeits pop up. Even though Chinese officials stopped a major haul, there are still many fakes out there that most fans can’t differentiate from the real ones. So players might want to make sure that they check for any markers that might suggest they’re fake.

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