Pokémon Tips on Recognizing if a Pokemon in trade is Legit, Genned or Hacked

[Dunquixote]

I’ve been trading a lot on Pokemon Home and I’ve been having a hard time recognizing which Pokemon are legit and which are genned or hacked.

I’ve googled a few of the trainers that I’ve been unsure about and found out some like NutellaGuyAU, Berichan either genned the Pokemon and hacked.

About a year ago, I got a pikachu with a hat in a trade that had perfect ivs, and from what I read, event pokemon never have perfect ivs so that one was either genned or hacked.

From what I’ve read, the signs to look out for are if the pokemon is level 100, location where the pokemon was caught, moves it has (like if the moves aren’t moves it can learn in any of the pokemon games), the ball it is caught in. Also, if the trades are too good to be true: if someone is giving a legendary for a regular, common pokemon.

I got a bunch of legendaries and some shiny legendaries from someone that was looking for dittos; now and then I see people asking for ditto in return for a legendary. Those seemed to be too good to be true but looking at the location they were caught and the level, everything else seemed fine. I read that there are people who does sometimes give legitimately caught and earned shinies and legendaries.

I got some shinies from wonder boxes and trades on there and would like to keep them but after finding out quite a bit of what I got a year or so ago were either genned or hacked, I’m not sure what is really legit/legal anymore.

So I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or pointers on this?

 

[Rainy.Nights]

Maybe I'm paranoid but these days I just don't trust getting random legendary, event, or other rare pokemon off Home trades or random surprise trades; the legitimacy of many pokemon you find on both of those seems similarly questionable. Normal pokemon that are not too hard to get are probably mostly fine though like if you're just searching for version exclusives. Some are very obvious it's hacked, such as having a website in the name or OT, never trust those. But that's not always the case, BeriChan as you mentioned is one common hacker name Ive seen show up a few times. The couple of legendaries I got from Home trades looked legit otherwise but still seemed fishy (perfect IVs, one was in a masterball) so sometimes it can be hard to say. While there have been some event pokemon that legitimately came with perfect IVs, it seems unlikely people would be easily willing to trade such rare event mons. These days if I'm looking to trade for a legendary or some other rare pokemon, I would rather discuss the trade with an actual person to determine the legitimacy of it. There are plenty of online pokemon communities on discords and forums where you can set up legit trades, which seems much more secure to me, and a moderator might be able to help you out if you got scammed. Also if you're looking for a specific event pokemon you can look up online what the stats, OT, ribbons/marks, and other info are supposed to look like. A trade that seems "too good to be true" often is.

 

[Dunquixote]

Maybe I'm paranoid but these days I just don't trust getting random legendary, event, or other rare pokemon off Home trades or random surprise trades; the legitimacy of many pokemon you find on both of those seems similarly questionable. Normal pokemon that are not too hard to get are probably mostly fine though like if you're just searching for version exclusives. Some are very obvious it's hacked, such as having a website in the name or OT, never trust those. But that's not always the case, BeriChan as you mentioned is one common hacker name Ive seen show up a few times. The couple of legendaries I got from Home trades looked legit otherwise but still seemed fishy (perfect IVs, one was in a masterball) so sometimes it can be hard to say. While there have been some event pokemon that legitimately came with perfect IVs, it seems unlikely people would be easily willing to trade such rare event mons. These days if I'm looking to trade for a legendary or some other rare pokemon, I would rather discuss the trade with an actual person to determine the legitimacy of it. There are plenty of online pokemon communities on discords and forums where you can set up legit trades, which seems much more secure to me, and a moderator might be able to help you out if you got scammed. Also if you're looking for a specific event pokemon you can look up online what the stats, OT, ribbons/marks, and other info are supposed to look like. A trade that seems "too good to be true" often is.

Thanks so much for replying! That is very helpful!

I always check the stats and look to make sure they aren’t perfect stats. A good amount the legendaries I got from the ditto trades have good or great stats, 3 perfect stats. Are genned and hacked pokemon always with perfect stats or not always?

I may have to look into a group for trades or just get everything myself; just probably won’t be able to get event and pokemon in different languages on my own. I’m kinda hesitant since I’m not good at interacting with anyone or big communities/discord groups. Had nothing but negative experiences in the past communities I had joined for other games.

 

[Rainy.Nights]

Thanks so much for replying! That is very helpful!

I always check the stats and look to make sure they aren’t perfect stats. A good amount the legendaries I got from the ditto trades have good or great stats, 3 perfect stats. Are genned and hacked pokemon always with perfect stats or not always?

Not always, but from what I've noticed that's usually the case. I assume those trades are very likely hacked legendaries, although I guess it's not impossible there could be someone generous enough to give away their rare pokemon. If it's a pokemon that's not a legendary/shiny/event and has perfect IVs, it more likely could be legit though, I randomly trade off some of those myself if I don't need them.