The Pokémon TCG popularity has reached meteoric levels over the past few years, with Logan Paul as one of the few celebrities to join the craze. But scams can even happen to celebrities, scams worth millions.
Since Logan Paul wore a base set First Edition Grade 10 Charizard Pokémon necklace to his Floyd Mayweather boxing bout last Summer, he has been tied to the Pokémon TCG for better or worse. Since acquiring what’s said to be the ‘only known sealed box of first-edition base set Pokémon cards’ in existence confirmed to be fake, it’s definitely worse. $3.5 million worse, as confirmed by the video below:
Possibly the oddest thing about the report is the history of the box of cards itself, and what was really inside. The Pokémon TCG community immediately had their doubts about trusting the holy grail of their passion, and detailed reasons as to why the authentication is off.
First off the Baseball Card Exchange (BBCE) initially verified the set as authentic, and they’re considered a trusted source in collectibles. The authenticator from BBCE, Matt Allen, initially purchased the case for $2.7 million from The Meelypops Shop, who then sold it to Logan Paul. In the video, he seems fully convinced of the validity of the case.
It’s interesting that a box of trading cards can still fetch millions of dollars when there are “so many inconsistencies” with his story as Matt points out. If authenticated the case was supposed to be “100% the only sealed case in the world.” As the story unfolds, it turns out to be too good to be true.
The Owner of BBCE, sits down and creates compelling reasoning as to why the sealed case is authentic. The sticker and tape being basically tattooed to the box, with unbroken Wizards of the Coast tape, and shrink wrapping that appears to be untampered is his argument.
After the group opens the case it is determined to be loaded with cards, but of the G.I. Joe variety that isn’t worth anything near the aforementioned $3.5 million valuation. The most harrowing part of this tale, is how good tampering with authentic collectibles has gotten.
Since the revealing of this massive scam, Logan Paul has been apparently reimbursed in full by Matt Allen, Darren Rovell reports on Twitter.
All things considered, the massive popularity of the Pokémon TCG seems to continue building steam as more sets are continuously announced. The BBCE has announced on Twitter “We have also decided to halt the review of Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! cases or boxes until we assess and revise our processes to avoid this happening in the future,” to further mitigate damage to the company’s reputation.
