PHONY POKEMON: COUNTERFEITERS FOISTING FAKE TRADING CARDS, TOYS ON KIDS.

Byline: Martha Irvine Associated Press

Hold them up to the light. Make sure they're not ``a little smudgy looking.''

That's advice from Kenji Morimoto, a fifth-grader from Evanston, Ill., who's been carefully scanning his collection of 500 Pokemon trading cards for fakes.

Kenji's far from alone in his quest to fend off impostors. Law enforcement officials and Pokemon creator Nintendo say phony Pokemon products, from trading cards to stuffed versions of the pudgy favorite Pikachu, are showing up around the country as counterfeiters try to grab some illicit holiday season profits.

``Fifteen years ago, we were getting trailer loads of counterfeit Cabbage Patch dolls,'' said Marc Woods, a supervisory inspector with the U.S. Customs Service at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. So far this year, Pokemon fakers have been arrested in at least four states. Customs officials have seized more than $20 million worth of counterfeit Pokemon goods in the last six months - about half of that trading cards, said Jodi Daugherty, manager of the anti-piracy group for Nintendo of America, based in Redmond, Wash.

It's become a big enough problem that Nintendo, which owns the marketing license for all Pokemon goods, has even trained customs officials and police officers in New York City and Honolulu to differentiate between real and fake Pokemon cards.

Nintendo said many of the fake products come from Asia, where the Japanese Pokemon products have long been popular - and long been counterfeited.

``The (fake) products were ready to roll. Fortunately, we were ready to roll too,'' Daugherty said.

Packets of 11 real Pokemon cards sell for $2.99. But some cards - especially first-edition versions of such characters as Charizard and Mew - are reselling for as much as $100 to $200 apiece in some online auctions.

Counterfeits are often sold in flea markets or from vending machines, though they occasionally pop up online.

SPOTTING A FAKE-ACHU

Here are some tips on how to spot a fake Pokemon card:

Double Vision

If the image is dull in color or the print on the card is hard to read - usually a product of shoddy reproduction - experts say it's probably a fake. Nintendo officials also say you can see dots when you look closely at the printed images on fake cards. Sometimes the colors of the characters are wrong.

Look for Logo

Some fake cards do not carry the Nintendo trademark logo or ``seal of quality'' found on official Pokemon cards. Copyright information is also printed somewhere on the package.

Flimsiness

Compare the thickness of the card to other Pokemon cards. Counterfeit cards are often printed on cheaper, thinner paper stock that bends or ``crinkles.''

Glue

Pokemon cards - licensed by Nintendo and made by Renton, Wash.-based Wizards of the Coast - are made out of two pieces of heavy stock paper glued together. Fakes are often just one piece of cardboard. Experts say you shouldn't be able to see the other side of a Pokemon card when you hold it up to the light. As a last resort only, cards can be ripped apart to see if there is glue inside. But be warned: Damaged cards are generally worthless.

Foil Finish

Some special Pokemon cards called ``holofoils'' have a foil-like finish embedded in the card to give it a 3D look. Counterfeiters have a hard time reproducing this look, so their work is often low-quality and easy to spot.

Sources: Nintendo of America, Hackensack, N.J., Police Department, U.S. Customs Service, PokemonNation.com.

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BOX: Spotting a fake-achu (see text)