Two men arrested for selling fake Pokémon cards in a $2 million scheme

If there’s a way to make money, nefarious people out there will try to take advantage of people. Pokémon cards are BIG business right now and there are plenty of legit ways to make a buck, but two unsavory characters decided to go the unlawful route, and now it’s landed them in some very hot water.

Former bank robber Anthony Curcio and his partner in crime Iosif Bondarchuk have been arrested in a $2 million scheme that involved taking Pokémon cards and faking their grading in order to pull in much higher values. By making false duplicates of the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) grading system, the pair would go around to shops and sell off their cards for much more than they were actually worth. Long story short, the cards were real but the grading and value were faked.

The pair were pulling the same kind of scheme with sports cards as well, and alarm bells were sounded when they tried to sell a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card for $171,700 with a PSA grade of 10. The PSA heard about the auction and reached out to let organizers know that they had never graded such a card.

If convicted, Curcio and Bondarchuk face 20 years in prison for “conspiracy to commit wire fraud.” We’ll keep tabs on this situation and see how things play out in court.