Faked Rare Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Auction Leads To Arrest

When it comes to trading card fanatics, they don't play around. Pokemon decks can cost thousands of dollars if you approach the right player, and the same goes for Yu-Gi-Oh! collectors. After all, a recent card sale just ended in an arrest, and it's all because of one uncouth counterfeiter.

According to new reports by YTV and MBS, one Yu-Gi-Oh! collector found themselves scammed by an opportune con artist. Shunki Iwasaki, 29-years-old, was arrested for selling a counterfeit trading card to a collector in Japan. (via Kotaku)

Iwasaki is accused of selling an ultra rare trading card known as Lorelei The Symphonic Arsenal. The gorgeous card was a prize given to the winners of the 2008 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships, and there are only six in the world. However, Iwasaki came up with a faked seventh, and he sold it to a collector in Kyoto for more than $3,500 USD.

The sale went down online, and the 20-year-old collector felt the card she received wasn't real. The buyer reported the sale to authorities, and the case ended with Iwasaki being arrested.

As you can see above, MBS put out comparison shots of the counterfeit card versus the actual piece. To the left, the bogus card is seen with a far more holographic background, and its typography varies just slightly from the real card. The coloration alterations are the biggest giveaway for this faked collectible, and it acts as a warning for collectors around the world.

If you're going to drop several thousand dollars on an item, you best be sure the purchase has been vetted and then vetted once again.

At this time, no conviction has been laid against Iwasaki for the purchase. Reports quote the man as saying he thought his Yu-Gi-Oh! card might have been fake, leading authorities to question how Iwasaki came to possess the card.

So, would you be willing to put that kind of cash down for a card sight unseen? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally created by Kazuki Takahashi for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and ran from September 1996 to March 2004. The series follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy who solves an ancient puzzle and is possessed by the spirit of the Egyptian pharoah. Being skilled at deadly games, the Pharoah goes on to create and solve problems for Yugi based on deadly games of chance.

Two anime adaptations were created for the series, but the one most fans will recognize is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. Duel Monsters was the first arc in the story to focus on the "Duel Monsters" card game and was the first season licensed for an English language release by 4Kids Entertainment. The first season of the series, which fans often dub as "Season 0," has such deadly games of chance with horrible consequences that fans could not believe it was a part of this series at first.