Logan Paul recently announced that he spent $3.5 million USD on a box of first-edition Base Set Pokémon cards, but now it seems that the collection could possibly be fake.
Over at PokeBeach, the Pokémon TCG fansite compiled a whole roster of evidence showing numerous inconsistencies and issues with the box of cards Paul purchased, suggesting that the YouTube personality could’ve fallen victim to an elaborate scam. The cards first surfaced on Canada’s eBay back in March 2021 but the post was full of errors, and the seller (named number1pokemonmaster) gave a series of contradicting accounts of how he came to actually acquire or own the collection. From there, the box set sold for a mere $72,500 USD, whereas usual sealed cases would go for hundreds of thousands, suggesting that other collectors were already suspicious of its authenticity.
Since then, the cards traded hands to Card Kahuna, who had them verified at the Baseball Card Exchange. But as the online community points out, the exchange doesn’t have a history of verifying Pokémon cards aside from simple booster boxes, and had provided no evidence or analysis at all for why the cards were considered authentic. On top of all this, the box itself also features a whole range of discrepancies when compared to other traditional, authenticated sets. Not only did the sticker label not age like others seen before, but it also contains an extra “E” at the end of its serial number which is not usually found in other Base Set card boxes, and the bar code itself also doesn’t match up with the letter. The tape used to seal the box isn’t what Wizards of the Coast had used previously as well.
Even if it does turn out that Paul’s new purchase is a scam, it won’t be the first time he’s fallen victim to fakes. Back in 2020, he discovered that a Pokémon Illustrator card he had spent $150,000 USD on was a fake and subsequently punched a wall, resulting in him ending up in hospital. It awaits to be seen whether is latest purchase is also a dupe.
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Tagged: gaming