Pokemon card fever hasn't gone away and is fueling a string of international heists. “It's worth tens of thousands of dollars and you can literally put it in your pocket”
Since the pandemic, the Pokemon card market has exploded, and with it, the number of thefts has also increased globally. This year alone, collectors' stores from Las Vegas and New York to Vancouver and Nottingham have been targeted, with total damage exceeding $500,000 in stolen playing cards, according to CNN.
“It's starting to become a phenomenon. It's concerning when we start to see a trend like this,” said Paul Walker, police sergeant in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
He is investigating a March robbery at a convenience store in which $25,000 worth of Pokemon cards were stolen and an estimated $10,000 in property damage was caused. The thieves are still at large. Walker said forensic analysts are checking the platforms where they may be traded.
The value of Pokemon cards, which has doubled in the past year, makes them an attractive target, and their small size makes them even more tempting for thieves, being easy to steal with minimal effort.
“Thieves can take a punch, which can be worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and literally pocket it,” said Nick Jarman, executive director of the Certified Trading Card Association. “Resale is extremely fast. They have high liquidity.”
In February, a dedicated Pokemon content creator known as PokeDean posted a video on YouTube showing off his trashed home. He said the only possessions stolen were the most valuable Pokemon cards he had.
“Do your best to keep your Pokemon cards safe considering how popular they are right now,” he tweeted to his followers. “There are malicious people who are willing to do such things.”
Behind the frenzy
The recent increase in thefts may be related to the approach of the 30th anniversary of the release of Pokemon, which will take place in February.
Pokemon was first created in Japan by Satoshi Tajiri, inspired by his childhood passion for collecting insects. The first video games were released in 1996, and the trading card game appeared in the same year.
Since then, the franchise's iconic collectible cards have steadily increased in value. In the past year, the price of Pokemon cards has risen by more than 145%, and buyers spent about $450 million in January alone, according to data from analytics platform Card Ladder. In February, influencer and wrestler Logan Paul sold a card for a record $16.5 million.
Pokemon cards have outperformed both sports cards and the S&P 500 stock index, with a 3,000 percent advance over the past 20 years, Goldin, the chief executive of trading platform Goldin, told CNN in December.
“As someone who has interacted with the card market for over a decade, I've always known that you can buy a Pokemon product, keep it, and you'll see a profit,” collector Greg Smith told CNN.
