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Magic counterfeit operation shut down

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:38 am
by l0qii
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/ar ... 2014-07-22

A Shenzhen-based printing company was determined to be the source of counterfeit cards that popped up in sample quantities in some markets. That company and its key foreign sales representatives ultimately complied with Wizards of the Coast's demands, cooperated with the investigation, and ceased all infringing activity.

Wizards also conducted an effective sweep of notorious counterfeit-seller websites, and several smaller, low-quality printers and sellers each ultimately agreed to cease all infringing activity.

Additionally, Wizards of the Coast's collaboration with federal and local law enforcement agencies facilitated the successful interception of an individual based in North Carolina who acted as a primary distributor of counterfeits in the United States.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:59 am
by GlobalBoosterHunter
Interesting, thanks for posting.

No pictures of the recovered counterfeits, no list of cards that were counterfeited, no mention of which parts of the country they were being offloaded, no mention of any names of people who have admitted selling them on as genuine, no mention as to whether they were being sold individually or as boosters, no mention of which era were being faked; modern or classics, no mention of how many might already be on the secondry market, in fact not a great deal to go on.

Not much of a 'news' story more of an infomercial on how they are protecting us from counterfeiters, if they really wanted to protect us they would give us the information we need to avoid the fakes.

But anyway, at least whoever was faking whatever has been stopped and that can't be a bad thing.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:43 am
by Knutsen
Yes, that also was my first thought - the content of information given is kind of weak.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:13 am
by dragsamou
Sounds like a tale in Smurf land, the lack of info is really not great. Wondering of how much was the check provided to some of those counterfeiters to stop activities, grab the check, then open a new facility. I know it sounds sarcastic, but I'm probably not far from reality...IMHO

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 2:51 pm
by l0qii
I agree I would like it if they posted more details.
Perhaps there are members here who know more and can share, or can explain why no more info can be given?

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:13 pm
by cataclysm80
I don't have a lot of time to respond right now, but I've been following this story since January on various Facebook groups. It was mentioned previously on Librarities here...
http://www.magiclibrarities.net/forum/v ... php?t=9327

The WotC response is due to massive feedback from concerned players, most of which haven't seen any of the fakes and don't know how to tell them apart from real cards.


Cards come in decks of 55 different cards. Each deck is identical (within a print run). Near as I can tell there was 3 print runs, and the most popular cards were in each run, so lots of duplicates. Supposedly most cards went to Brazil and/or Spain.

1st print run January 2014 (all cards English) Estimated 2000 of each card from mtglion live YouTube interview with counterfeiter. (mtglion exaggerates quite a bit in the video, pause the video and read his screen.)
Tropical Island
Temple Garden
Stomping Ground
Overgrown Tomb
Scared Foundry
Breeding Pool
Misty Rainforst
Celestial Colonnade
Flooded Strand
Arid Mesa
Wasteland
Inkmoth Nexus
Elspeth Sun’s Champion
Tarmogoyf
Scalding Tarn
Hallowed Fountain
Polluted Delta
Sol Ring
Underground sea
Marsh Flats
Reflecting Pool
Mutavault
Wooded Foothills
Windswept Health
Watery Grave
Godless Shrine
Savannah
Blood Crypt
Verdant Catacombs
Jace, Architect of Thought
Swords to Plowshares
Chalice of the Void
sword of war and peace
sword of fire and ice
demonic tutor
elspeth knight-errant
thoughtseize
pernicious deed
sword of feast and famine
goblin lackey
goblin piledriver
engineered explosives
lona shild of emeria
stoneforge mystic
lona shield of emeria
karn liberated
tundra
Vampiric Tutor
Snapcaster Mage
Academy Ruins
Batterskull
Force of Will
Intuition
Sphinx’s Revelation
Reanimate


2nd print run May 2014 (The original Dual Lands are in German, and the Imperial Recruiter is in Chinese.)
Ancient Tomb
Mutavault
Arid Mesa
Noble Heirarch
Badlands
Plateau
Bayou
Polluted Delta
Bitterblossom
Rishadan Port
Bloodstined Mire
Savannah
City of Traitors
Scalding Tarn
Crucible of Worlds
Scrubland
Cryptic Command
Sensei’s Diving Top
Damnation
Show and Tell
Dark Confident
Snapcaster Mage
Dark Depths
Sneak Attack
Emrakul, the Aeon’s Torn
Stifle
Flooded Strand
Stone forge Mystic
Force of Will
Taiga
Gaea’s Cradle
Tarmogoyf
Griselbrand
Tropical Island
Imperial Recruiter
Truename Nemesis
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Tundra
Karn Liberated
Umzawa’s Jitte
Liliana of the Veil
Underground Sea
Lion’s Eye Diamond
Vendilion Clique
Mana Crypt
Verdant Catacombs
Marsh Flats
Volcanic Island
Misdirection
Wasteland
Misty rainforest
Windswept Heath
Mox Diamond
Wooded Foothills
Mox Opal



3rd print run July 2014
Badlands
Tropical Island
Black Lotus
Bayou
Volcanic Island
Underground Sea
Tundra
Taiga
Scrubland
Savannah
Plateau
Force of Will
Gaea's Cradle
Library of Alexandria
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mox Jet
Rishadan Port
Sneak Attack
Time Walk
Mutavault
Mox Opal
Ministy Rainforest
Marsh Flats
Karn Liberated
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Hollowed Fountain
Flooded Strand
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Dark Depths
Dark Confidant(1993-2005 version)
Dark Confidant(2013 version)
Courser of Kruphix
Chord of Calling
Bloodstained Mire
Blood Crypt
Ather Vial
Wooded Foothills
Windswept heath
Watery Grave
Show and Tell
Sensei's Divining Top
Verdant Catacombs
Thoughtseize
Tarmogoyf(1993-2007 version)
Tarmogoyf(2013 version)
Sword of War and Peace
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Light and Shadow
Stoneforge Mystic
Scalding Tarn
Wasteland
Polluted Delta

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 12:08 am
by GlobalBoosterHunter
A nice mix of old and new, thanks for the lists, much more edifying than the press release.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 2:41 am
by cataclysm80
The decks come in plain white playing card boxes, so it's nothing that you'd want in your sealed product collection.
If I recall correctly, you had a few fake booster packs from somewhere else.

Tav

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:00 am
by GlobalBoosterHunter
I have picked up a few fake boosters in the past but they were never going to fool anyone and the contents were also never going to fool anyone, printing was wrong, card stock was wrong, foiling was wrong, size was wrong and the cards were mostly recent commons.

Nothing that anyone with any money in the game would even worry about, probably made for kids to be able to crack a few cheap boosters and certainly not meant to be any high end products.

Still counterfeits but nothing that was a threat to the hobby.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:12 am
by dragsamou
Image

These dramatic images show American police wearing gasmasks as they set fire to a 105-ton haul of MTG cards seized during a raid in North Carolina.
With an estimated street value of S3 million, the vast haul will have to be burnt over two days to avoid clouds of MTG card smoke affecting local people.
The cards were seized after a shoot-out with MTG Counterfeiters and eleven suspects have been arrested.

I guess that"s what we wanted to hear and see :-D

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:22 am
by random
No, there needs to be dead counterfeiters sprawled throughout the image with massive gunshot trauma :wink:

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:29 am
by dragsamou
random wrote:No, there needs to be dead counterfeiters sprawled throughout the image with massive gunshot trauma :wink:
I see already way too much "War obscenity" posts all over the internet and social medias, and I simply don't stand it anymore, so I choose a smoother approach, and there's nothing better than the smell of a Fake Black Lotus burning héhé :wink:

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 12:28 pm
by Default User
Love the pic.

"Thousands addicted by burnt addictive ink. Hasbro stock soars."

"Somehow the Chinese got their hands on the real stuff." states a WotC employee, who wishes to stay nameless. "We kinda knew that the addictive part of the ink is transported by smoke in case of fire, but we never foresaw whole towns addicted by the stuff. We are rushing more Conspiracy boosters to the state as fast as we can, but local games stores get bought out within minutes. It's like Legends all over again."

Hasbro representatives declined to comment on increased sales in North Carolina, but market has reacted by doubling the stock value every day for a straight week.

This has also made the police conserned, as now two cases have come to light where married players have hospitalized their significant others from carbon monoxide inhalation by intentionally burning Homelands-expansion boxes in their bedrooms in hopes to stop their nagging about spending too much money and time in the game.

Former star player and store owner Mike Long commented: "That's so stupid! Everybody knows that the addictive ink was missing from Homelands, Fallen Empires and Chronicles. They should have at least bought some Saviours of Kamigawa boxes for that."

Good times.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 12:31 pm
by dragsamou
Default User wrote:Love the pic.

"Thousands addicted by burnt addictive ink. Hasbro stock soars."

"Somehow the Chinese got their hands on the real stuff." states a WotC employee, who wishes to stay nameless. "We kinda knew that the addictive part of the ink is transported by smoke in case of fire, but we never foresaw whole towns addicted by the stuff. We are rushing more Conspiracy boosters to the state as fast as we can, but local games stores get bought out within minutes. It's like Legends all over again."

Hasbro representatives declined to comment on increased sales in North Carolina, but market has reacted by doubling the stock value every day for a straight week.

This has also made the police conserned, as now two cases have come to light where married players have hospitalized their significant others from carbon monoxide inhalation by intentionally burning Homelands-expansion boxes in their bedrooms in hopes to stop their nagging about spending too much money and time in the game.

Former star player and store owner Mike Long commented: "That's so stupid! Everybody knows that the addictive ink was missing from Homelands, Fallen Empires and Chronicles. They should have at least bought some Saviours of Kamigawa boxes for that."

Good times.
:-D :dance:

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:10 pm
by mystical_tutor
MIKE LONG..... boy that brought back some memories...

Gary