How to Spot Fake Pokémon Cards

To tell if a Pokémon card is fake, put it beside a genuine copy of the same card and compare the two. The same card means the same set, collector number, language and finish, not just the same Pokémon. Wrong text is the clearest warning, because the official card databases show exactly what each card says. No single feature proves a card genuine on its own.

Start with the exact card and language

Identify the card before you judge it. Read the name, the set name or symbol, the collector number and the language. One Pokémon can appear on many cards across sets and rarities, and comparing your card with a different printing proves nothing either way.

For English cards the official reference is the Pokémon TCG Card Database on pokemon.com, which shows each card's text, set, number, rarity and illustrator. For Japanese cards it is the official card search at pokemon-card.com. Match the set name and the collector number first. A number higher than the set total is normal on the rarest cards in a modern set: Prismatic Evolutions Umbreon ex is 161/131.

Then match the finish, because each rarity has its own foil treatment. The right number with the wrong finish is a warning in itself. Our rarity symbols guide covers which symbol goes with which rarity.

Compare text, symbols and artwork

Read the whole card against the reference, word for word. Check the attack names, the damage numbers, the rule box and the illustrator credit. Charizard ex 223 from Obsidian Flames has 330 HP, an Ability called Infernal Reign and an attack called Burning Darkness that does 180+ damage, with art credited to Akira Egawa. A copy that says anything else is not that card.

Symbols and borders belong to an era. With the Scarlet & Violet series in 2023, The Pokémon Company moved English cards from yellow borders to grey and revised the rarity symbols. A genuine yellow-bordered card from before that change is not suspect for lacking the newer symbols.

Under the Scarlet & Violet system, common, uncommon and rare keep the solid black circle, diamond and star. Double Rares carry two black stars and Ultra Rares two foil stars. Illustration Rares have one gold star and Hyper Rares three. Double Rare was a new rarity in that system, so a yellow-bordered card with two black stars is a reason to look harder. The set symbols guide shows what each set mark looks like.

Artwork and colour are weaker evidence than text. A phone camera or a screen can make a genuine card look paler or darker than the reference image. A colour difference is a reason to look harder, not a verdict.

Check the foil, texture and print detail

The Pokémon Company describes Illustration Rare and Special Illustration Rare cards as full-art foil. A Double Rare has a foil border with a star-like sheen, and a parallel foil card has a foil pattern around the artwork. On a Scarlet & Violet parallel foil card, the expansion code at the bottom left sits in a white box with black text instead of the usual black box. Tilt your card and a genuine reference under the same light and compare how the pattern sits and moves.

The Pokémon Company describes Double Rare Tera Pokémon ex cards as having a unique foil across the card and a textured appearance. A flat, plain copy of one of those cards is a reason to look harder. On a card that is not described as textured, a smooth surface tells you nothing.

A magnifier helps only when you use it on both cards. Compare the small text, thin lines and colour edges of your card with a genuine card from the same set at the same magnification.

Pokémon Support says counterfeit cards are often easy to see through when held up to a bright light. Hold a genuine card of the same era up to the same light at the same time, so you compare like with like. A card that lets far more light through than its genuine counterpart deserves a closer look.

Real versus fake examples

The table lists genuine cards as the official databases show them, with the details to check on a copy you are unsure of. It holds no counterfeits, because a fake is only useful as a reference when its origin is documented. Each row names the official page to compare against.

The two Umbreon ex rows share the same artwork by Yashiro Nanaco, but they come from different sets with different numbers and rarity labels. The Japanese set also holds a second Umbreon ex, 093/187 with the code RR, illustrated by takuyoa. A copy that mixes these details, such as English text with the Japanese number, is not a genuine card.

Japanese cards and unfamiliar variants

A Japanese card is not a fake because it differs from the English one. Japanese sets have their own names, numbering and rarity codes, and the official Japanese card search lists codes such as RR and SAR. The official Japanese how-to-play page lists the same marks you would check on an English card: a collection number, a rarity mark, a regulation mark and an expansion mark.

Do not judge a card back across languages. Compare a back only with a genuine card in the same language from the same era. Our Japanese versus English guide covers the language differences in more depth.

English has legitimate variants that unsettle people too. Scarlet & Violet parallel foil cards have a white expansion-code box. Promo cards sit in their own series in the database, such as Scarlet & Violet Promo Cards. Each has an official version to compare against.

Gold, metal and novelty cards

Gold-coloured cards exist in the official game, and they are printed cards. The Pokémon Company describes Hyper Rares as full-art foil cards with gilded borders and accents. In the Mega Evolution era the database also lists a rarity called Mega Hyper Rare, which is where Mega Lucario ex 188/132 sits.

A solid metal card is a different thing. For the 20th anniversary in 2016, The Pokémon Company worked with the Japanese jeweller Ginza Tanaka on a Pikachu card in 11 grams of 24-karat gold, reproducing the Japanese Base Set Pikachu. CGC reports that it was sold by lottery through Pokémon Center Online in Japan in late 2020.

If a metal card's listing cannot name the official release it reproduces, treat it as a novelty rather than a card. Our gold and metal cards guide goes through what is official and what is not.

What to do if you are unsure

Handle the card as if it were genuine. Put it in a sleeve, do not clean it and do not bend it. You may want it undamaged, or need it as evidence.

Take better photographs than the ones that worried you. Shoot the front and back square on in daylight, then close-ups of the bottom corners, the rule box and the foil at an angle. Take the same shots of a genuine card from the same era beside it. If you have not bought yet, ask the seller for the same photographs of their copy. A seller who will not supply them has told you something.

If you have already bought the card from a business, contact the seller first and ask for a return. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats a contract for goods sold by description as including a term that the goods will match that description. That part of the Act covers a trader supplying goods to a consumer, not a private sale between individuals. If a UK trader will not put it right, you can report them to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service.

Pokémon Support suggests that shops specialising in trading cards may be able to look at a suspect card for you. PSA says it checks that a card is genuine before it assesses condition, and assesses only cards it has found authentic. We do not offer an authentication service. Our authenticity page sets out the checks we will run on anything we list.

Checks that do not prove authenticity

A phone photo proves little either way. It shows the card as the camera and the screen render it, and foil looks different at every angle. Photographs can rule a card out when the text is wrong, but they rarely rule one in.

No single physical test is proof. The light test needs a genuine card of the same era beside it. Texture only matters on cards described as textured, and the foil test needs a reference under the same light. A card that matches the correct reference on every check is probably genuine, and that is as far as checking at home goes.

Do not tear, bend, scratch, burn or soak a card to find out more. A damaged card stays damaged whatever the test showed. Under our condition standard, a tear, a crease that breaks the surface or a bend that will not lie flat puts a card in Damaged, the lowest of our five grades.

The same habit of comparing against a genuine reference applies to sealed product. Our guide to spotting fake Pokémon packs covers what to check on packs and booster boxes before you buy.