After two years of direct investigations, the FBI has finally brought charges against two men for forging and selling falsified graded trading cards, specifically Pokémon TCG products, to unsuspecting buyers.
According to the court overview, Anthony Curcio and Iosif Bondarchuk sold over $2 million USD worth of slabbed Pokémon and sports cards with falsified grades from the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). This went on from 2022 to 2024, at minimum, and featured the duo scamming buyers around the United States by offering graded cards they altered to reflect greater quality than their actual value at in-person venues and online marketplaces.
Content merged from May 25, 2024 3:46 am:
After two years of direct investigations, the FBI has finally brought charges against two men for forging and selling falsified graded trading cards, specifically Pokémon TCG products, to unsuspecting buyers.
According to the court overview, Anthony Curcio and Iosif Bondarchuk sold over $2 million USD worth of slabbed Pokémon and sports cards with falsified grades from the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). This went on from 2022 to 2024, at minimum, and featured the duo scamming buyers around the United States by offering graded cards they altered to reflect greater quality than their actual value at in-person venues and online marketplaces.