YouTuber Logan Paul wastes $3.5m on fake Pokémon cards

YouTuber Logan Paul has wasted $3.5m on fake Pokémon cards.

Last month the influencer boasted about "dropping" the cash on what he believed was a "sealed & authenticated box of 1st Edition Pokémon cards".

Turns out though, once they arrived, they were in fact GI Joe cards - worth significantly less.

just dropped $3,500,000 on this sealed & authenticated box of 1st Edition Pokémon cards 😯 pic.twitter.com/rMY2bVnKV2

Paul shared the news on his YouTube channel, beginning: "This story is fucking crazy. And it sucks. And I'm out three and a half million dollars."

He documents the run-up to the opening, including the Pokémon community believing the cards would be fake due to their sketchy origins.

He then visits Chicago to open and verify the sealed boxes, which are authenticated by a Baseball Card Exchange representative due to appearing untampered with.

Instead they unpack what they describe as the "biggest fraud in the entire history of Pokémon".

"It's just so sad for all parties involved," says Paul after the opening. "It's sad for the Pokémon community, like how many fraudulent fucking things are out there. I'm grateful for the things I have now that are real."

He adds: "We got fucked. End of story."

Auction prices on rare cards have skyrocketed in the past couple of years, with one card going for $195,000 last year. But Paul's purchase is the most spent on a collection of cards - too bad he was wrong.

Yet he also notes in the video that he trusts the seller to give a full refund in the event of fake cards. So was this a major trolling, or a planned publicity stunt all along?

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