UPDATE: I have been informed that the B&W image sheet that was posted might not be Xiao’s and might be from another buyer. This means there are possibly multiple sheets.
NOTE: I don’t think or know if any of the individuals named here are knowingly participating in the scam. I’m just presenting the info as I’ve come across it.
On 12/19/2024, uncut sheet panels of the No.1-3 Pikas and an illustrator were listed for sale by beamcollector.
I’ve revised my post not to draw any conclusions in light of the new information, since with multiple sheets we can’t really trace ownership and sequential signing.
Very interesting, idk if this is pertinent or not but around that time beam tried to sell me a bunch of his playtest and no opaque layer cards saying get them from him before he puts them at auction and i found it strange for someone who just acquired all these awesome cards so recently for such high prices to wanna dump them so soon after for cheap. Did beam find out they were fakes somehow n wanna get rid of them before all this happened? Not accusing him but just thought it was strange.
This implicates Akabanee very badly and discredits anything he stated previously.
I am highly concerned about the authenticity of some high end cards now. For example, Eevee scramble had a large uptick in pop report this year. If Xiao can print a holo illustrator, a non holo should be easy
These sheets are not printed by the same printing method as a real card. TCG cards use a offset printer that prints in a rosette pattern. That would not show this dot matrix code, as these do, and as the Beta cards do.
I also think Xiao might’ve gotten scammed as well. He’s been posting a lot recently saying that he doesn’t care if the cards are fake or not, if they’re from Akabane they are “real” regardless of when they were printed
Commenting to say that you’ve done tremendous work. I highly suspected that Akabane was in on this fraud and your work pretty much puts the nail in the coffin.
doubt the scammer got scammed, but I wonder on the legitimacy of all of his illustrators. He is up to what? 3 or 4?
Also, unrelated, but cgc gonna wanna talk to that sean grifter. People have said that he could guarantee the akabane sigs and the legitimacy of the cards. (lol).
other than the 1 pic from original post below, this includes the illustrator sheet.
This confirms that Akabane is involved in this fraud. Thanks for sharing these data.
I’m sure people will still try to deny his involvement despite the evidence.
On 12/19/2024, uncut sheet panels of the No.1-3 Pikas and an illustrator were listed for sale by beamcollector. I don’t think beam had knowledge at the time that these were fake, IIRC he was promoting the sale on behalf of Akabane
So what do we think about these? They appear to be printed in a more conventional offset style, using Japanese cardstock. Of course, the foiling on the Shining Magikarp and Shining Gyarados would be very difficult to reproduce.
The Snap uncut sheets do not have the Japanese old-back backing. They just have white cardstock. Given what we know, I am extremely skeptical of them. The Fan Club sheet is the only one that seems legitimate but it’s weird the old back sides don’t align with the cards.
If someone has higher res pics of the Snap sheets and can confirm they have rosette dots from offset printing, that would go a long way in favor of being real
