Dan Barnett of Walt's Cards in Baltimore, Maryland saw the news about the counterfeit Pokemon cards (see "47 Million Counterfeit 'Pokemon' Cards"), and says customers should only purchase from reputable dealers:

The counterfeit Pokemon card problem has been with us for a long time.  Both Scrye and Alliance published articles on the subject to which I contributed about 10 years ago.  I've seen counterfeit cards (Pokemon and Magic) at the Origins and Gen Con Auctions for that long or longer.  I've been giving the "Detect Counterfeit Cards" class at Walt's for at least that long, too.

I enthusiastically applaud all efforts to control the import of counterfeit cards, but import controls can go only so far.  The problem will not go away as long as there are dealers willing to make a fast buck, regardless of the injury to their youthful customer.

My only solution is for the customers to purchase cards only from established, reputable, dealers and ignore all flea-markets, mini-malls, and other one-time offers.

If a deal is too good to be true, it probably isn't.

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.