Leading grading company Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) reported intercepting an estimated $200 million-plus in fraudulent trading cards and tickets in 2025, according to data released by the company Thursday. PSA, which graded more than 19 million cards in 2025, reported a more than 45 percent increase in counterfeit cards flagged by the company compared to 2024, including a five percent increase in counterfeit sports cards and a 125 percent increase in fake Pokémon cards.

“Counterfeiters are no longer just targeting the hobby’s most valuable assets,” says PSA’s 2025 fraud report. “They are attacking every segment of the market — from vintage to modern, inexpensive and mid-tier cards to ultra-scarce case hits, even widely available promotional cards.”

PSA reported the rate of counterfeit cards as a percentage of overall submissions grew 250 percent in 2025, indicating the number of fakes on the market is increasing rather than simply keeping up with an expanding market. PSA declined The Athletic’s request for an estimated number of total counterfeits beyond the provided percentages.

Sports cards made up 43 percent of the counterfeits caught by PSA in 2025, while trading card games (TCG) such as Pokémon, One Piece, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Disney Lorcana, made up more than 56 percent. Cards from the modern era, which PSA considers 1990 to present in this report, made up more than 70 percent of total counterfeits. The $200 million figure cited by PSA was created using pricing tool Card Ladder data to determine the corresponding market price for each card’s average grade had it successfully passed as authentic. The report called this methodology a “conservative reference point grounded in observed market outcomes, rather than assuming premium-grade results.”

The surge in counterfeits runs parallel to the growth of the trading card industry, which has experienced significant increases in sales prices and volume on the secondary market and in total grading submission volume to the major authenticators. Card Ladder tracked more than $616 million in online trading card sales in April, which is the most logged by the tool for a single month during its current era of reporting, beginning in 2024. The tool has also logged more than 7.4 million transactions for the online secondary market in April, which is another single-month high for the tool. Grading tracker GemRate reported more than 3.1 million cards were graded by the major authenticators in April, the most ever recorded.

According to Ryan Hoge, president of PSA parent company Collectors, an increasing number of new hobbyists, paired with advancements in printing technology, have likely led to the rising number of counterfeits being submitted for grading.

“The market’s hot. Secondary-market prices are up. So you’ve got a lot of newer collectors that are coming in that maybe aren’t as sophisticated,” Hoge told The Athletic. “That’s part of the reason why we’re publishing this. We want people to be more informed when they’re buying and selling and considering these things, so they can avoid getting ripped off or scammed.”

“The technologies have gotten better, especially on the counterfeiting side,” Hoge added. “You rewind the clock 20, 30 years and it was maybe harder to fake print some of these things. But it’s cheaper and easier now for these bad guys to actually print fake cards. That technology has gotten more prevalent and more accessible.”

Of the counterfeits flagged by PSA, the 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner had the highest percentage of fakes, with 12 out of 13 examples submitted in 2025 deemed fraudulent — the lone authentic example was the “Shields Family” Wagner that was held by the same family for more than 100 years before eventually selling at Goldin for $5.1 million. Other notable cards with high counterfeit rates include the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (62 percent of 181 submissions), 1984 Star Michael Jordan (27 percent of 360 submissions) and 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan (25 percent of 3,285 submissions).

Though high-end cards are traditionally associated with counterfeits and alterations due to their potential return on investment, Hoge says a troubling trend has been the rise of mid-end cards being faked. According to PSA, two of Tom Brady’s most counterfeited cards in 2025 were his 2000 SkyBox Impact #27 and 2000 Pacific Crown Royale Rookie Royalty #2. Raw, ungraded copies of those cards have trended around $100 while PSA 10 examples of the SkyBox Impact average $1,377 and PSA 10 copies of the Rookie Royalty average $1,726.

Altered cards, which often start as authentic examples but are trimmed or recolored to appear in better condition, have increased significantly in PSA’s observation over the past year. PSA reported a 109 percent increase in altered cards year-over-year with a two percent increase for sports cards and a 407 percent increase for Pokémon.

The increase in alterations for Pokémon cards can be partially attributed to the reverse of each card featuring blue or gold coloring up to the edge, which is easily spotted. Trimming can eliminate some of that edge wear, but Hoge says PSA has gotten better at identifying those fraudulent changes.

“The cuts typically can look very similar to a factory cut, but the dimensions are off,” Hoge said. “So we’ve gotten really good at measuring the dimension automatically, so that’s where we’re able to detect a lot of this. The edge pattern under magnification also does look different, so those are things we’re staying on top of.”

An increased use of AI has helped PSA identify counterfeits and alterations when they hit the grading room. PSA began pre- and post-grading imaging at the beginning of 2022 and has since upgraded its cameras multiple times. Those images help with card identification through a research function that can call out specific parallels and variations. Every image is uploaded into a library of more than 270 million cards to reinforce PSA’s AI modeling.

When a card is placed for grading, authenticators have access to those pre-grading images and an alert system to help identify common counterfeit characteristics for that specific card. Graders also receive suggestions for centering as cards are automatically measured — these measurements can spot trimmed cards when they come in “short.” Graders can also spot many counterfeits by hand based on the feel or smell of the cardboard used.

“There’s a few other things that we’re doing that we probably don’t want to talk about just yet, but we have plans to go even further with this,” Hoge said. “Where we continue to advance some of the imaging technology, we can get better views of the surface, edges, things like that.”

Hoge is adamant the ideal grading process is done using AI and humans in tandem. PSA graders must attend an apprenticeship-style program, which includes more than 13,000 card evaluations, before grading independently. Graders must also participate in continuing education, which includes “blind test” sample cards that are inserted into the company’s workflow to test graders.

PSA plans to continue sharing counterfeit and alteration data with the public more quickly to help educate hobbyists. Hoge also says the expectation is the company will continue to get better at detecting fraudulent cards as the imaging technology improves.

“The main thing here is we feel proud of this $200 million figure because we kept that out of circulation. So that’s great, how can we raise the bar?” Hoge said.

“I think you’re going to continue to see us get better and better every month because when you look at the imaging, which is the key to all of this, we’re essentially adding eight million more images every single month to this database,” Hoge added. “It’s getting smarter and smarter and better and better. So as the bad guys get more sophisticated techniques, our job is to stay ahead of it.”

As for how collectors can protect themselves, PSA offers six tips in the report:

• “Verify before you buy: Always check certification numbers on the PSA website to confirm authenticity of graded collectibles”
• “Look for eBay Authenticity Guarantee: When buying on eBay, eligible items $250+ are inspected by PSA before delivery”
• “Examine the details: Review closely for inconsistencies in print quality, fonts, foil patters, and card stock.”
• “Buy from trusted sources: Purchase from reputable sellers, established marketplaces, or known dealers with strong track records.”
• “Question deals far below market value: If a deal is significantly below market value, it may indicate an issue with authenticity.”
• “Compare against verified examples: Use known authentic examples to benchmark what you’re buying.”

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