[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

I printed out an image of this card(as I have done with other cards that are suspect) and attempted to scan the barcode, and the barcode would NOT scan on this card. I have many others cards I have done this with and have scanned. While the cert number is able to be looked up and verified in the system, the barcode should be able to be scanned and match the cert number on the right of the card. Not all fakes, but on a good number of them(the bad fakes especially), the barcode either does not scan at all or does not match the cert number when scanned.

saved, that's actually quite fascinating. And I wonder if that's not one of the ways that collectors like you and I could be protected when buying a graded card.

We look at the barcodes, and see a series of black lines. Well, I wonder if there isn't a way to increase the complexity of the barcodes so they would appear normal to the naked eye, yet would somehow immediately disqualify fakes when scanned. PSA could make available some type of scanner for purchase to their clientele so when your purchased card arrives from some third party, you can scan it, and verify it's authenticity.

The idea would be analogous to writing on a grain of rice. An incredible amount of information can be stored in a very tiny place. Who says that same methodology couldn't be used on a flip. It would require a fairly high level of sophistication, something that your average thief wouldn't know how to replicate.