Pokemon’s lasting popularity has spurred the creation of likely millions of fake Pokemon products over the years, and a recent bust by U.S. Customs agents has now uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit Pokemon goods.
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U.S. Customs agents intercepted packages coming in from Hong Kong through a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania border point. 15 boxes containing over 86,000 bootleg Pokemon figures were discovered and seized. The individual figures are very clearly bootlegs and often don’t match the actual appearance of the Pokemon they’re based upon very closely. However, the real stunner here came from the overall value of the figures. Customs agents came to the conclusion that the toys were worth a whopping $603,000 USD if they were sold in the place of legitimate Pokemon toys.
Although the toys likely wouldn’t have fooled discerning Pokemon fans, chances are some people would have wasted their money on these toys without knowing any better. Stopping the import of bootleg goods like these helps to protect fans of the series, and even family and friends of fans who might have picked up a bootleg for the Pokemon lover in their life not knowing any better.
While the idea of over $600k in Pokemon goods might sound absurd to some, Pokemon fans are more than willing to open their wallets for legitimate Pokemon merchandise. Recent products with high prices have included Gigantamax Pokemon plush toys at nearly $500 a pop, but older Pokemon products in good condition go for even crazier prices. One buyer spent nearly $200,000 on a single Pokemon card being sold at auction.
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Source: Dexerto
