This is just my opinion but perhaps sometimes there can be such a thing as too much information. Why let something like this sour your experience if you were happy with the pins and the experience before? I can see how serious traders would be upset by the prevalence of fake pins... and it is their responsibility to make sure that they have the knowledge to weed through the pins you find in the Disney parks. But for the average hobby person, there is no need to get upset about things like this.
I took my goddaughter to Disney and got her a lanyard and a set of the fairy pins they have there now, as well as a few special trip pins we bought individually. We did not let her trade the trip pins, but the set was fair game, and she traded and retraded those six pins with CMs at every park, VERY often! We could have had these "scrapper" pins and there could be some on her lanyard right now and I could care less, even though we only bought the pins from the Disney parks (the annual pass discount helped a little with the cost). The experience and fun she had was PRICELESS for her and she is only six, she does not understand about "value" she only knows she wants a Tinkerbell pin or a Mickey head pin. The only thing that worried me a little was when she wore some of my sister's "Give a Day" pins on her lanyard, she did not like those pins and was dying to trade them. I just didn't want them traded away like that, because I love those pins, so I got them back from her and bought her pins that she liked instead.
It was something I thought would be stressful because I would have to somehow learn the value of pins and those that show up on castmember lanyards and then tell a six year old that she can not have the pin she wanted because of such and such a reason she could care less about. But in actuality it was very simple and very fun! Just don't stress out about it and have a good time, and let the serious collectors worry about the authenticity of their own collections.
