Random: Taiwanese Police Seize 6,850 Fake amiibo Cards From One Man

Actually....
There is one place (a game shop) at my hometown that selling fake Amiibo cards like above.
I have ever saw them (the cards) with my own eyes.

Never seen ‘em, and I probably never will. Glad they caught him.

Not gonna lie: I purchased a Zelda's set. Well made, with a neat wallet... would love buy it from Nintendo. But the actual Amiibos... I'm afraid I would need hundreds of dollars to get what I wanted =/

That is a shame, because the guy was not hurting anyone. I've got loads of these from Ebay, all work, all look fantastic. I don't have space for a amiibo collection, so these cards are the next best thing. Nintendo should do an official set.

I’ve got a set of Zelda ones I bought off eBay that look like that. They came in a nice little booklet to. They worked like a charm

@Fidodemo I have also purchased a set in a neat wallet (Odyssey ones), I have no space for anymore Amiibo's and I wanted all the costumes in Mario Odyssey. I have spent a fortune on Nintendo products over they years so my guilt is only small.

Maybe if you didn't lock content behind expensive hard to find toys this wouldn't be a problem?

@SethNintendo
"People willing to counterfeit to make money? "

One word : Temptation of Cheap prices.
When peoples really want the cheapest, any methods are allowed even the illegal ways.

These actually look quite nice. If they were official I'd be buying tons!

@Anti-Matter
Nintendo wants to know your location.

@AlexSora89 your Switch tells them your location already so why do you think bann users for cheating.

I can't even be mad at people making these because Nintendo just utterly fails to meet the demand on these things. It's so stupidly hard to get like 99% of the amiibo if you don't get them at the initial shipping and it's so frustrating, I can perfectly understand people resorting to these cards instead.

Not that I'm defending criminal activities, but Nintendo's kinda doing this to themselves if you ask me.

Also @SethNintendo even if amiibo unlock fairly little, it's still content locked behind hard-to-find toys. Even if it's just a skin, like in Yoshi's Woolly World for example, people find joy in unlocking and playing around with these skins, so if they want these skins (which there are a lot of), for a large part they're either going to have to dish out a LOT of money to scalpers, or just purchase these cards. And unfortunately that's largely Nintendo's fault for not meeting the demand. It's like every single amiibo is a limited edition and that's just dumb.

@SethNintendo If you have a Wii U, Switch or 3DS then you can hold them against the system and unlock costumes and stuff. Some games even have whole levels cut out until you own the Amiiboo.

But the do make a nice display.

@SethNintendo

I spent months trying to get Wolf Link so I could have him in BOTW. I still can't find an OoT or Smash Bros. Link which you need to unlock Epona.

Those whom bought the Pirated Amiibo card are just that Pirates themselves no different. Don't try to justify your so called legit claims their illegitimate to begin with already. If you missed them then eBay or Scalpers are the legit sellers of (physical)Amiibos. Even if the prices are over the top. So let's get this clear Amiibos fake cards are just that illegitimate to start with-no amount of cherry picking will remove the stain you put on yourself.

I have many many amiibo but retailer specific and shortages are the reason I bought the zelda set of 22. Plan on buying the complete metroid set too. It's just easier this way.

@SwitchForce
What's wrong with cheating if it's single player?

This rings some bells

The claims stand NFC cards made from legit Amiibos are Pirated plain and simple. It tells alot about the character of the buyer. Would you get a NFC of a Ferrari probably not but.

This is great. I prefer these cards as I don’t always like getting the amiibo out of the box

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time

I'd support official amiibo cards, but knowing Nintendo they'll be sold in random packs and to be assured you're getting what you want, you have to buy from ebay for $$$. Some of the functionality is nice, but I'm not interested in the figurines, so even just spending retail price on them is too much for me.

Bought one of these myself for the Majora's Mask Link amiibo that was initially impossible to find and now sells for $40+ from eBay scalpers.

These pirate NFC cards help people enjoy paywall-locked game content most players are happy but unable to pay for due to physical toy shortages and the fact that Nintendo do not offer a cheap official alternative. Selling at such a low price, this seller was not doing their buyers much harm. Selling unlicensed, non deceptive products like this falls into the grey area of third party controllers or accessories for me. It's a shame Nintendo aren't selling their own better version of amiibo cards.

Haha we were recently discussing the virtues or non virtues of these cards in the forum recently. I like them, I'd probably buy all the smash ones for 50¢ each if they were easily available. It's a bit of a weird one really, it's like buying an unlicensed nyko controller...I guess the only difference is that maybe Nintendo owns the IP on the NFC data? But is that data actually copyrighted? If not then everybody and their nan could make these cards legally. And they're not counterfeit amiibo because they are cards not figures.... I know China has different laws but I wonder how this would fly in the UK

@Rohanrocks88 That roast was savage, but true.

@AlexSora89 Agreed. Single player exploits are definitely not the same as multiplayer and attacking their character for it is going too far.

I wonder why there's such a huge demand for fake amiibo... oh wait I don't.

@SwitchForce I'm sorry, but I would honestly prefer someone bought from a pirate than a scalper. You have to keep in mind that many pirates aren't simply using pirated products because they are bad people. The world isn't always black and white. I obviously support paying money for a product or service, but some stock is limited and some people simply cant afford to buy them from collectors. For all you know, they are buying for their child and feel like a failure because they can't afford the real thing. Things just aren't always as easy as "go get the money and buy the real thing." It's not just immorality or laziness all the time.

@Manah Probably scalpers and the odd scammer trying to trick people into thinking they're real.

@NIN10DOXD
Availability in general. If they offered the content as regular DLC as well I bet a lot less people would resort to this. That still leaves the problem with things like Smash functionality being ridiculously hard to access once a specific amiibo isn't available anymore. (Scalping doesn't seem to be quite as bad here and we don't do the exclusive store nonsense, but it's still harder than it should be to get my hands on a Bayonetta amiibo for a reasonable price.)

I have the N2 elite, much better for that purpose

@NIN10DOXD
Pokémon's multiplayer aspect is the only reason cheater-bashing is acceptable. Then again, Pokémon are going to be locked behind 50-dollar paywalls now, which is flat-out unfair and, coupled with utter lack of cloud save support - which I'd like to stress is paid for - completely turns the tables on anti-cheater philosophy. I'm well aware this stance of mine won't be popular here, but I don't care.

@NIN10DOXD
Define "Pirate"
"use or reproduce (another's work) for profit without permission, usually in contravention of patent or copyright."
Ring a bell now.

Scalpers aren't reproducing they are selling a legit product. Pirate aren't selling a legit product. Your Cherry picking is getting worse and worse here.

I also make Amiibo cards, for personal use. They look like this:
It's best to get a powersave if you want to keep it cheap though

@BumpkinRich exactly, i have more sympathy for the counterfeiter than the police in this situation, nintendo amiibos are expensive after all.

Honestly just dont want a bunch of plastic figures around my house. I wish there was an option to just buy the content as DLC and not worry about trying to find and purchase all the amiibos. Its ridiculously easy to even make them yourself so Nintendos efforts here will never work. People will always purchase these, but they could definitely reduce it by changing the system.

Weren't Nintendo supposed to be doing this themselves? Not just talking about the AC ones either.

I play Splatoon competitively and I'm also a completionist. Yes, that means I'm functionally insane. ANYWAY! I'm not paying out the nose to have all the gear on hand, my little pile of NFC tags will do quite nicely.

@ALinkToMyProfile "I also make Amiibo cards, for personal use.
It's best to get a powersave if you want to keep it cheap though"

What you do for yourself no one is going to stop you from doing so. What those forgets is the Pirates benefits from those buying from them. Someone is making for illegitimate income verses a Scalper whom is sells a Physical Amiibo. One sells high while the other sells for personal gains at expense of Legit Amiibos. Once you cross over from doing it for yourself to profiting from Pirating NFC codes you lose all legitimate excuses. Scalpers for all the hatin and curses they get are selling legitimate product. Heck even I hate Scalpers doing this but until market says sell at MSRP prices they will sells what the Market sets. This is call Capitalisms and anyone arguing against this is only Pirates.

I have mixed feelings on this as well.

The use of official artwork on an unlicensed product is definitely problematic. And cloning NFC cards can be problematic. You don't want some random stranger gaining access to your hotel room for instance. That said, I see amiibo as accessories, and I am 100% okay with unlicensed / imitation accessories.

Counterfeit amiibo cards are filling a niche that Nintendo could and should capitalize on.

There are 65 distinct amiibo figurines for Smash 4. That number will likely jump to 80 or more for Smash Ultimate. There is no good reason why we can't purchase a character card for a dollar a piece. I'll even settle for $6 blind packs a la Animal Crossing. I mean, we can buy amiibo cards for Mario Sports Superstars. Are you really going to try and argue that amiibo cards for a flagship series like Super Smash Bros. won't to sell? Ha!

Here's another tactic Nintendo could use. Create an amiibo-like device that allows players to purchase the characters they want digitally. An Omniibo if you will. This allows Nintendo to protect their amiibo technology, and it also provides a legal means for players to acquire the functionality they want at a fraction of the cost. Really, this method makes even more business sense for Nintendo because they can set the price of the device to offset manufacturing costs, and then it's pure profit from there on out.

That or you know, people will keep spending $15 - $20 on sets of counterfeit amiibo cards, and Nintendo won't see a dime of it. Just like with all of those Mother 3 reproduction carts that have the English fan translation applied. >.>

Aww they have the nice ones. My zelda set has the don’t sue me artwork. I have all of the physical amiibo except the animal crossing set because I don’t care, but it is so easy to toss the cards in a bag when I take the switch to work.

@SwitchForce How am I cherry picking? I know what a pirate is and I still think exploiting consumers by scalping is worse. Like I said, I prefer to support Nintendo, but I’m more worried about the consumer than some rich executives and shareholders who will barely see any damage done to their bottom line form fake amino cards of all things. I’d be more worried about pirating Switch games through home brew software than this. Disagree if you want.

Yeah capitalism sucks. Just because the ideologies of western capitalism dictate that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and any poor person who copies ideas from rich is a pirate doesn't mean it's right or wrong. Before you say there is opportunity for normal people to get rich, I think they would lose themselves in doing so. It's difficult to not get ahead without walking on the backs of others.
The law can be wrong, as is evidenced by the huge amount of laws that have changed over the past 150 years. Maybe one day we will live in a free society and hopefully that doesn't come at the cost of sucking up brainwashing adverts instead....

@SethNintendo Most, but not all. Mario Kart 8 (Deluxe) and Yoshi's Woolly World in particular have Mii costumes and Yoshi patterns, respectively, which you cannot unlock without the use of amiibo. Both Splatoon games and Zelda: Breath of the Wild have specific equipment sets which can only be obtained with amiibo. Mario Party 10 even locks an entire mode behind amiibo.

There's probably more examples like that, but you get the idea. Most of the stuff that's locked behind amiibo specifically are simply aesthetics though, so it mostly depends on how much you care about that personally. If you don't care about aesthetic changes then you're likely not going to miss much without amiibo.