How do those fake Pokemon TCG cards with crazy HP get into circulation?

Question

Allow me to regale you with a tale of hardship, triumph, me being an 8 year old, and showing Ty my childhood card collection, only to find out that they're effectively worthless:

Way back when I was just a little bitty boy, living in a box under the stairs in the corner of the basement of the house half a block down the street from Jerry's Bait shop. You know the place. Well anyway, back then life was going swell and everything was just peachy! Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that when I was eight or nine, I acquired what I would, a few years later, learn were fake Pokemon TCG cards. I probably wouldn't know that these cards were fake if they didn't each have one defining feature: incredibly, excessively high HP. A 12,000 HP Arcanine, 9,000 HP Amoonguss, 7,000 HP Pansage, 9,000 HP Starmie, 13,000 HP Vanilluxe, and 8,000 HP Lampent. All under the ownership of Hellfire Taco. Golly gee, an absolute motherload! I rediscovered these cards after going through my old collection with Ty to see if anything was worth anything rather than getting a job, and I just kind of set them aside. Found them on a shelf while reorganizing and I realized that these cards don't make, like, any sense. Fake things are generally meant to trick people into thinking they're a more desirable products. That being the case, why make fake cards that are pretty accurate, save for the fact that they've got an absurd amount of HP?

This brings us to my question: Is it known who made/is making fake cards like this and how people acquired them? Not just specifically those with high HP, but fake cards in general. You may also want to keep in mind that this was the late 2000s/early 2010s when I got these and that might affect the answer. Online ordering was much less prominent then if my memory is correct, is there a way that these could get into physical retail stores?

All I can really remember is that they were given to me by friends, I don't know if they all came from the same friend, nor do I know where my friends got them. It would surprise me if they were just printed on a home printer, they feel pretty similar to real cards and they seem to be well printed. That's about all I can say about them. I can provide pictures if necessary but I don't really think it would help much.

I understand that this question probably borders the line of being against the rules, and, dear site moderator, if you must close this post, I will personally hunt you down and-

woah hellfire taco first non thread question since 2017

Comments

Bro this isn't reddit.

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Do you have an estimated year of acquisition? Late 2000 to early 2010’s is a large gap and can vary in opinion. Would you say like 2008-2013 ish? What are the dates on the cards?

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https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/w9128/i_have_a_whole_pack_of_cards_that_have_too_much/

These guys are saying they bought them at the Dollar Store. Don't know how people could put that up for sale there though

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Looking into it, this was probably between 2011 and early 2013. Some of the cards are Pokemon from Gen 5, and I moved away from my hometown before Gen 6 released. All of the cards look relatively similar. I don't think I acquired them all from one person, but the designs of the cards, other than obvious stuff like the Pokemon on them, is identical.

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I remember a friend of mine had cards like those at around the same time. Although, at that age we knew that they were no doubt fake, the premise of cards with that amount of HP seemed to be both funny and somewhat cool to us regardless. I could very well see a kid wanting to get their hands on those cards with such high HP and, ignorant to what official products are and whatnot, find it really cool and would want them, as opposed to the real stuff, so the high HP could give them an odd factor of the cards seeming more esteem than their official counterparts. As for where the fake cards originate or are obtained, I imagine they'd be no different from other counterfeit products, and would probably be found in places like flea markets and the like, probably having dubious origins in China.

I can convert this comment to an answer if this does satisfy your question, but I doubt it does completely.

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I wonder what country that dollar store would be from. I bought Pokemon cards from my dollar store. They were all trash but they appeared to be authentic commons.

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I want to add, I know for a fact a lot of fakes modern day come from Amazon and Ali-Express. Sometimes, even the Walmart site. People will list cards for dirt-cheap on aliexpress, and Amazon and Walmart independent sellers will charge “retail price” for sets that are going for atrocious prices.

I know this because a few unfortunate moms showed me their son’s Pokemon collection. And I was like. That’s unfortunate.

I was on aliexpress the other day and saw an XY booster box for $7 or something.