One of the most trusted grading companies in the world, the Professional Sports Authority (PSA), has released a new report about the massive fraud problem in the trading card community.
PSA Unveils 6 Pokémon, Top Cards Faked by Counterfeiters
PSA has shared the full 2025 fraud report, which details their latest discoveries and findings on the cases of fake and fraudulent trading cards in the market, with the "Pokémon Trading Card Game" seen as the most faked.
Along with "Pokémon," baseball, basketball, football, and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" cards make up the top five categories of trading cards facing the issue.
With "Pokémon TCG" taking the top spot of being the most faked category in the market, PSA also details the top subjects being faked in the trading card market, with six of them hailing from the franchise.
The PSA said that this includes Charizard, Pikachu, Gengar, Rayquaza, Umbreon, and Mewtwo.
Moreover, PSA noted that Charizard leads the list for being the top faked subject among counterfeit cards they discovered in their research, ahead of Basketball's Michael Jordan and Pikachu.
It was also revealed by PSA that in the "Pokémon TCG" community, there are two top cards faked by counterfeiters, and this includes the "Scarlet and Violet" promo card called "Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat" and the 1999 1st Edition Charizard Holo.
Should You Be Worried About 'Pokemon TCG'?
According to ComicBook Gaming, PSA's fraud report only talks about the cards submitted to them for authentication and grading, so this does not necessarily reflect that fakes are proliferating in the market.
ComicBook said that many sites that sell trading cards, such as eBay, have authentication processes to check a card's legitimacy.
Collectors and players need to look out for the many indicators that a card is fake, and this includes the likes of different font faces, blurry print, wrong holo pattern, incorrect symbols or information, and more.
Originally published on Player One
