Logan Paul’s $3.5M case of Pokémon cards found to be fake
Was going to put this in the Entertainment forum but I know there are some sports card collectors on CP so I thought it would be relevant to a broader discussion.
Basically, an unopened case of Pokémon “first edition” cards that was authenticated by a company called BBCE (Baseball Card Exchange) was purchased for $3.5M awhile back. However, there were apparently questions raised about the authenticity of the case, which eventually prompted the buyer (Logan Paul) to open it.
It turns out the case was fake, and was filled with (essentially worthless) GI Joe trading cards (lol) instead:
As someone who collected sports cards as a kid, and watched it explode in 2020 following the pandemic, I think it’s fascinating that people were duped to this magnitude. People have too much money it seems…
"The biggest Fraud in the entire history of Pokemon...?"
I cant put my finger on it, but that made me laugh hysterically when 3 middle-aged white dudes are 'bro-ing' out in a hotel room over a box of playing cards about Pokemon?
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Pretty much sums up the people mentioned and this thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
"The biggest Fraud in the entire history of Pokemon...?"
I cant put my finger on it, but that made me laugh hysterically when 3 middle-aged white dudes are 'bro-ing' out in a hotel room over a box of playing cards about Pokemon?
You would think for $3.5 million, they would at least put in the effort of faking the Pokémon card decks.
Years ago, my son wanted some Pokémon cards off of Amazon that turned out to be fakes. They looked to be printed on an inkjet printer. I would have been OK with them being fakes if they had actually looked good. It was only $20 afterall.
"The biggest Fraud in the entire history of Pokemon...?"
I cant put my finger on it, but that made me laugh hysterically when 3 middle-aged white dudes are 'bro-ing' out in a hotel room over a box of playing cards about Pokemon?
My kid is starting to get into the Pokémon thing now. The thing I find funny is that they now sell jumbo sized cards similar to those jumbo sized playing cards for senior citizens. Man that made me feel old. I picture millennial senior citizens playing Pokémon one day using those.
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I haven't watched the video, but what are the odds the entire thing is a setup for clicks? 90%?
Very high considering Paul was reportedly refunded his money. I doubt he was ever in risk of actually being out $3.5 milllion.
The whole thing was probably setup. I think the dealer got their hands on this box and took a gamble on if this box was real or not. Claim to sell it for $3.5 million to Paul. If it was real, it jacks up the market for Pokemon cards. If not, they still get content and make a few bucks.
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Yeah at no point did anyone take this seriously among Pokémon collectors. These were suspected fake since day one. The reaction when they were confirmed fakes was a resounding “duh”.
Speaking of crazy card collectors, I was at phoenix comics today and some guy bought a $350 card, not sure if it was Pokémon, but I was shocked when I heard them mention the price. I was like dude wtf is wrong with you, get a grown up hobby. Then when he left I paid for my $200 purchase of various comic books.
Last edited by Cecil Terwilliger; 01-15-2022 at 04:26 PM.
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I just linked a short version of the video; if you watch the longer version, it shows the guy from BBCE talking about why he felt the case was authentic and not tampered with. As it turned out, he didn’t really know what he was talking about (I don’t think he had any expertise in Pokémon cards, just sports cards apparently). You can see him ****ing bricks at the end of the video — “we ALL got duped… agreed!?!” — knowing he’s going to get sued and his professional reputation just dropped about 100 notches.
I have zero knowledge about Pokémon cards or Pokémon in general, but the whole thing seems nuts to me.
Many authentication services for collectors items are just scams, run by people with no special expertise and working in unison with auction houses and/or sellers to drive up the value of garbage.
This sounds like that kind of an authentication service.
Yeah at no point did anyone take this seriously among Pokémon collectors. These were suspected fake since day one. The reaction when they were confirmed fakes was a resounding “duh”.
Yeah I'm not in that world at all whatsoever and even to me the whole story screamed fake from the start
Many authentication services for collectors items are just scams, run by people with no special expertise and working in unison with auction houses and/or sellers to drive up the value of garbage.
This sounds like that kind of an authentication service.
This is so true. The sports/collector card boom has been lucrative for places like Heritage auctions. They are regularly selling $200,000+ boxes of wax packs. (For example right now they have a 86-87 Fleer Basketball wax box that is currently bid $150,000 with lots of time left on auction) The biggest obstacle to these large sales is are they authenticand if authentic have they been tampered with in any way. Enter BCE who stamps it authentic and everyone is happy because the majority of people don’t open vintage wax. Although it may be click bait for Paul it is very bad for BCE and the Auction Companies.
Heard about this . Was hoping he wouldn't get his money back. Dudes human trash
It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. I'm only sorry he got his money back.
Dink Doink to the moon, eh Logan.
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Logan Paul’s $3.5M case of Pokémon cards found to be fake
