The Charizard Charade

The Charizard Charade

January 15, 2026 · 1h 25m

About this episode

This episode explores the rise of ultra-rare Pokémon prototypes and the fraud surrounding them.

Pokémon cards became a billion-dollar market—and then a massive fraud target. This episode follows the rise of ultra-rare Pokémon prototypes, the grading systems meant to protect collectors, and the amateur investigator who used codebreaking and printer forensics to expose a modern forgery ring hiding in plain sight. All that plus a nice chatty chat after the break to kick off the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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