How to tell if a Pokémon card is fake

Fake Pokémon cards are a growing problem

PSA's 2025 fraud report, published in May 2026, said counterfeit Pokémon submissions rose by more than 125% year on year, against 5.1% for sports cards. Trading card games made up 56.3% of the counterfeit cards PSA saw, and PSA put the projected value of fraudulent collectibles it intercepted at about $200 million. Pokémon was the most counterfeited category, and all of the top 10 altered cards PSA listed were Pokémon cards.

The cards PSA saw faked most often were:

1. M Charizard EX, XY Flashfire #108
2. M Charizard EX, XY Flashfire #69
3. Charizard, Base Set 1st Edition shadowless #4
4. Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat (Scarlet & Violet promo)
5. M Charizard EX, XY Generations #12

The fastest-growing fakes were M Gengar EX (Phantom Forces #35, up 656%), Lugia EX (Plasma Storm #134, up 640%), M Rayquaza EX (Roaring Skies #105, up 520%) and Charizard ex (Pokémon 151 #199, up 420%). If you are buying any of these raw, check them carefully.

10 checks you can do at home

1. Compare it with a card you know is real. Put the card next to a genuine card from the same set, or an official scan. Almost every other check on this list is easier side by side.
2. Read every word. Check the Pokémon's name, attack names and text for spelling and punctuation mistakes. A missing accent on the é in Pokémon is a classic giveaway.
3. Check HP, damage and set details. Fakes often show odd HP or damage numbers. Check the collector number, set symbol and rarity symbol against a card database for that set.
4. Look at the font and print quality. Genuine text is crisp and evenly spaced, including the small print along the bottom. Blurry, pixelated or slightly wrong fonts point to a copy.
5. Inspect the energy symbols. On fakes the energy circles are often the wrong size, out of line or smudged. On real cards they are clean and sit in the same place on every card of that type.
6. Find the copyright line. Real cards print the year and copyright notice at the bottom. If it is missing, the card is almost certainly fake.
7. Check the back. The blue swirl behind the Poké Ball should have darker blue mottling through it. A flat, pale or washed-out blue is one of the quickest tells.
8. Feel the surface. Most genuine cards have a smooth, slightly matte finish. A glossy, plasticky feel is a warning sign, though textured modern rares feel different by design.
9. Tilt the holo. Foil should appear only where it belongs for that card, and look smooth rather than grainy. Holo on the whole card when the real one has a holo window is a red flag.
10. Measure it. Genuine cards are 2.5 × 3.5 inches (63 × 88 mm). Fakes are often slightly off.

Tests to treat with care

Not every odd card is fake

Real misprints exist: miscuts, missing holo, ink errors and wrong backs. If a card is off in exactly one way, look it up in an error-card database before you write it off. Some genuine promos and special sets also differ from the main set in finish, stamp or watermark.

Graded cards can be faked too

Counterfeiters also copy grading slabs and labels. Look up the certification number on the grader's own website and check that the card, grade and label match the record. Be wary of any high-value card sold far below recent sales.

If you think you were sold a fake

• Stop and keep everything: the card, packaging, listing and messages.
• Use the marketplace or payment provider's dispute process as soon as you can; time limits apply.
• If the card is valuable, a grading company's authentication will settle it.

See our card-crime investigations for the public-records requests we have made about card counterfeits, thefts and scams, and when results are due. Related: card grading companies compared, PSA grading cost and the most valuable Pokémon cards, which are also the most copied.