Return of the Meatballs. Here for the three Cs: cards, collectibles, and cavatappi. New account after randomly getting locked out of the old one.
Joined June 2025
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I was randomly locked out of my account last week and it's not clear if there is any way to unlock it after reading about others with the same issue. So, I guess it's time for a meatballs redux.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Ran into a fake @CGCCards slab on @eBay today. Wasn't even hunting, I was just testing our app.
CGC 10 Pikachu ex 276/217, cert 6149630022, $1,100 or best offer.
ebay.com/itm/940071108577
What got me: the photos are sharp, high res, and the QR still wouldn't scan. So I actually looked at it and pulled CGC's own photos of that cert.
Cert is real. The slab isn't:
- back hologram is a different sticker
- the QR doesn't scan at all, it's just a picture of a QR
- front barcode looks fine, doesn't read either
- even the card is a different print (Illus. Mitta / SCR, CGC graded Illus. booota / ASC)
If it doesn’t open the CGC page, walk away.
It’s flagged in @CheckCOA now.
Tomorrow it goes into my report to
@eBay
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
The non-sports card craze seen on eBay at at auctions has hit real life. I have never seen so many non-sports cards being sold. At least 100 tables at the Sports Card Expo in Toronto this weekend has some representation of non-sports product.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Already doing it. Sports cards run through the same check.
So far I’ve scanned every PSA slab listed on @Collect, @altxyzofficial , @Courtyard_io, @CardHobbyOF and @GoldinCo , plus part of @eBay .
47,786 slabs, 35,216 back-label QRs decoded. About 15,400 of those listings are sports.
5 fake labels so far, none on a sports card yet. Latest one is a 2009 Japanese Charizard, cert 41001979. It’s sitting in a live @CardHobbyOF auction right now.
From here on I’ll keep monitoring new PSA slabs as they get listed on these marketplaces.
Just received this e-mail from Fanatics Collect about enhancements to the auction process.
It does not expressly say it, but hope the enhanced vault inspections are intended to flag and identify the recent spate of fraudulent slabs.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Next one, also on @altxyzofficial.
1995 Playboy Chromium Cover Cards #85, Donald Trump, "PSA 10", cert 88530164. $320.
alt.xyz/itm/79336656-4ce1-49…
The slab is fake:
The back QR stores psacard.com/cert/88530164/ps….
The QR uses error-correction level L.
PSA's own label for this cert uses M.
The front label is set differently: "PLAYBOYCHROMIUM" and "CARDSEDITION" with the spaces missing.
The back label is missing the small PSA logos that ring the big logo on genuine PSA LightHouse labels (3 above, 3 below). Same as on the fake Goku slab.
Update:
I ran the same QR check over the live auctions on Alt, Fanatics Collect and Courtyard.
Alt, about 8,100 PSA slabs in this week's auctions: one fake slab.
2025 Dragon Ball Super Fusion World Son Goku #FB05-119, "PSA 10", cert 142911085.
Live on Alt's weekly auction right now
alt.xyz/itm/499894ee-0137-48…
The cert is real. PSA's own photos of it show a different slab. Three things on this label give it away:
1. The back QR stores psacard.com/cert/142911085/p…. Same /psa tell.
2. The barcode is in the wrong format.
PSA prints 8-digit certs as ITF and 9-digit certs as Code 128. ITF can only hold an even number of digits, so when the forger pushed a 9-digit cert into ITF, the generator padded it: "0142911085".
Genuine 9-digit labels read "142911085" in Code 128.
3. The QR uses a different error-correction level. PSA uses level M. This one uses Q. Q leaves less room for text, so the code jumped from a version 3 grid to version 4. The URL alone would still have fit PSA's grid.
2 and 3 have nothing to do with /psa. They should still catch the next batch if the forgers fix the URL.
The card inside I'm leaving to you. Alt's photos next to PSA's own images of this cert, both full resolution. Real card or not, given the lighting?
Have to imagine the chance that digital repacks / gacha platforms will be subject to significant regulation in the not so distant future is skyrocketing.
SCOOP: FanDuel is running a trial for a digital rips product.
“We’ve been tracking the rips product very closely,” Dan Taylor, the CEO of FanDuel's parent company, Flutter, tells me. “We’ve done some trials already, and those trials have gone very well.”
The trial is limited to the FanDuel Rewards Club. Customers can select a reward that takes them to @ArenaClub, a digital rips company co-founded by Derek Jeter.
Engagement with the Arena Club reward is being used to assess customer interest in digital rips.
Taylor declined to offer more specifics on when FanDuel could launch a digital rips product of its own.
“There are lots of different products that fulfill the different customer needs for risk-taking,” Taylor says of digital rips. “And this is fulfilling that customer need in the U.S.”
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Update:
I ran the same QR check over the live auctions on Alt, Fanatics Collect and Courtyard.
Alt, about 8,100 PSA slabs in this week's auctions: one fake slab.
2025 Dragon Ball Super Fusion World Son Goku #FB05-119, "PSA 10", cert 142911085.
Live on Alt's weekly auction right now
alt.xyz/itm/499894ee-0137-48…
The cert is real. PSA's own photos of it show a different slab. Three things on this label give it away:
1. The back QR stores psacard.com/cert/142911085/p…. Same /psa tell.
2. The barcode is in the wrong format.
PSA prints 8-digit certs as ITF and 9-digit certs as Code 128. ITF can only hold an even number of digits, so when the forger pushed a 9-digit cert into ITF, the generator padded it: "0142911085".
Genuine 9-digit labels read "142911085" in Code 128.
3. The QR uses a different error-correction level. PSA uses level M. This one uses Q. Q leaves less room for text, so the code jumped from a version 3 grid to version 4. The URL alone would still have fit PSA's grid.
2 and 3 have nothing to do with /psa. They should still catch the next batch if the forgers fix the URL.
The card inside I'm leaving to you. Alt's photos next to PSA's own images of this cert, both full resolution. Real card or not, given the lighting?
Ran an automated sweep on every Pokémon PSA slab auction on eBay above $10,000.
181 lots, 138 QRs readable. And i caught a live one.
One fake: a “PSA 10” 2003 Aquapolis Espeon, $20K start, $50K Buy It Now, from a seller with 0 feedback. The back QR carries the same /psa tell as the $600K Rayquaza. The cert is real, the slab is not.
ebay.com/itm/820305431888
I put the listing photos next to PSA’s own image of this cert. Different label typeface, a different hologram pattern on the PSA logo, a different print on the card itself. Comparison attached.
It’s flagged in @CheckCOA now. Tomorrow it goes into my report to @eBay, together with everything tonight’s wider scan finds.
@natsturner, flagging this one before someone pays $30-40K for it.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Ran an automated sweep on every Pokémon PSA slab auction on eBay above $10,000.
181 lots, 138 QRs readable. And i caught a live one.
One fake: a “PSA 10” 2003 Aquapolis Espeon, $20K start, $50K Buy It Now, from a seller with 0 feedback. The back QR carries the same /psa tell as the $600K Rayquaza. The cert is real, the slab is not.
ebay.com/itm/820305431888
I put the listing photos next to PSA’s own image of this cert. Different label typeface, a different hologram pattern on the PSA logo, a different print on the card itself. Comparison attached.
It’s flagged in @CheckCOA now. Tomorrow it goes into my report to @eBay, together with everything tonight’s wider scan finds.
@natsturner, flagging this one before someone pays $30-40K for it.
A $600K loss on a fake PSA slab is sickening, and more victims are surfacing daily.
Verifying the QR payload before buying is no longer optional. Scammers will probably patch this in future batches, but to catch what’s circulating right now, scan the QR with @CheckCOA.
Even if a fake cert isn't in our fraud database yet, our scanner detects this payload discrepancy instantly and raises the alarm before you buy.
checkcoa.com/
This fake slab highlighted by @YoungKen156236 has some similar features compared to the recent forgeries coming from Europe, including the fugitive ink flaws and /psa QR code. However, sourcing here appears to be from China.
More Fake PSA Slab and Label. Again, if PSA, especially PSA China does not do anything, these fake will flood the market really quickly. @PSAcard @natsturner
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
All known cert numbers from these fake PSA slabs are now in the @CheckCOA fraud database.
If you’re new to this: the counterfeiters reprint the label, but they made the QR code from the PSA page in their browser. So the link ends in /psa, which genuine PSA labels never have. The real format is psacard.com/cert/NUMBER.
checkcoa.com/ now warns you instantly, whether you scan the QR with your camera or upload a photo from your computer, even if that cert isn’t in our database yet.
Removed the daily scan limit for graded cards on CheckCOA. Check your slabs whenever you want, up to your plan’s monthly allowance.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
HOW TO SPOT FRAUDULENT PSA SLABS
I had AI scan 100,000 PSA slabs worth $1,000+ and so far it's detected 20 suspicious slabs with an incorrect QR code on the label. Of those 20 slabs, 14 were Pokemon, 5 were Sports, and 1 was One Piece.
The easiest way to tell is to scan the QR code on the back, but DON'T follow the link. Instead press the button (bottom right on iPhones) that shows the actual URL of the QR code. If that URL ends in /psa, the slab has most likely been tampered with. Attached photos of a normal URL vs a suspicious URL.
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
More Info On The FAKE PSA Pokemon Card Situation
youtu.be/q_RRP6Ia6Rg
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
Like seeing all the hobby research, which is obviously lacking within auction houses.
As usual, @altxyzofficial scans aren't great, but that shaq is obviously not the copy @PSAcard reviewed and imaged.
Users from Elite Fourum have identified more presumed fraudulent slabs, including some sports and One Piece, across various marketplaces (eBay, Alt, Fanatics, Courtyard).
The ones shared below were all added by one user, mannynotfound, running QR code checks with Claude.
The QR code checks may be a good way to discover existing fraudulent slabs, but criminals will no doubt fix this going forward.
Full new thread here: elitefourum.com/t/multiple-i…
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
🚨 Fake PSA slabs make headlines after a reported $288K Pokémon sale!
🔍 FREE Card Comparison tool lets you overlay, zoom in, align edges & spot differences that may reveal fake slabs or altered cards.
Compare before you buy!
tiffanycards.com/tools/card-…
Credit: @YoungKen156236
I Am (Still) Meatballs retweeted
So there’s a lot of counterfeit slabs hitting the market rn and we are seeing them on fanatics ebay and alt and yall need to look out for some signs.
I saw this and got some screenshots from keezycards on ig. So check them out.
Ok first check your slabs. There's a counterfeit warning going around for high-value vintage Pokémon slabs 🚨
Two things people are spotting:
1. The big "21" on the slab
Look near the bottom corners of the plastic. Certs starting with 2–7 usually shouldn't have the bigger "21" that newer holders have. Certs starting with 8 and up can have it.
The catch is that older certs PSA legitimately reholdered can show up in the newer plastic. So a big 21 on an old cert means you should look closer. It doesn't automatically mean it's fake.
2. The actual QR code URL
This one's wild. Someone on Elite Fourum reportedly scanned around 1,300 real PSA QR codes, and none of them ended in /psa.
Some of the suspected fakes had codes like this:
❌ psacard.com/cert/12345678/ps…
instead of
✅ psacard.com/cert/12345678/
Both of those still open PSA's real site, so just scanning and seeing the cert page isn't enough. You have to read the full URL.
How to check yours:
Look at the molded 21
Scan the QR and read the whole URL
Look the cert up on PSA's site yourself
Compare the PSA scans to your actual card and holder
If anything's off, hit up PSA and ask about reholder history
These are early red flags, not a guaranteed way to tell. The /psa thing is just a pattern people have noticed so far, and a clean QR doesn't mean the slab's legit either.
If you've got older high-dollar slabs, it's worth 5 minutes to check them.
Send this to your collector friends. And if you've got a legit reholder that breaks these rules, post it. The more real examples we've got, the better.
#PokemonTCG #PSA #PokemonCards #CardCollecting #VintagePokemon
