On July 7th, 2025, a user on the EliteFourum posted images of four Chinese Pokemon cards. The community quickly raised concerns about their authenticity and asked where the cards came from, as one of them was from a set that was not expected to be released for another three months.
The user responded:
“These were a gift from a client in China I met with last week — along with a giant stack of Espeon Masterballs.”
They also posted a photo showing a wider range of cards.
Community members pointed out that the samples did not appear to have the embossed Pokémon logo in the bottom-left border — a common telltale sign of counterfeit cards.
The user reiterated:
It’s a printing sample. It’s not an officially released product.
It’s just a printing sample from a machine that makes cards.
They also provided additional photos from their supplier, including comparisons between known fakes and the samples in question.
One day later, on July 9th, 2025, TPC China announced that there had indeed been a leak of the new set from one of their partners, and that an investigation was underway.
Dear Pokémon Trainer:
Thank you very much for your long-term support and trust in us! We noticed remarks about the stream of Simplified Chinese Pokémon cards that have not yet been officially released on the web. Based on our company’s recent investigation into the incident, it has been confirmed that these unsold cards were leaked by one of our company’s partners, and the outflow process has been determined. At the moment, the incident is being processed further. Trainers are kindly requested to view online speech rationally and not to credulously and spread false and false information. We will strengthen security management in the future to avoid a recurrence of similar problems. Pokémon (Shanghai) Toys Co, Ltd July 9, 2025
The user had offered free Espeon Masterballs to anyone interested. I reached out and requested one myself to take a closer look.
Upon receiving the cards, I inspected them using various methods to assess their authenticity. In every test, they appeared to be genuine.
They did in fact have the embossed logo too, though it is tricky to capture on camera.
The same user shared some additional information about the supplier of the cards, stating:
the supplier said they were made in January of 2024 from a supplier who lost their contract. Same digital assets and I’m assuming same printing methods but different material but with the same manufacturing standards.
They also made claims about a network of former licensed suppliers allegedly producing near-indistinguishable counterfeit products.
The post also takes a broader swipe at China’s intellectual property enforcement, claiming that local authorities are unlikely to intervene due to economic or political disinterest.
While the claims echo long-standing concerns in the trading card world about counterfeiting and overseas production, the lack of substantiated proof leaves many questions unanswered.
Currently, the cards are stored in my binder. I plan to print out a QR code linking to this webpage and place it alongside them, so I can revisit the information later.
I will update this post when i have done further research or any new information comes out.
I felt it was important to document and archive this information, both for my own future research and for anyone else who might be interested.
I would usually archive pages of importance with The Internet Archive, however in my experience it does not work as intended when archiving the EliteFourum.
