A recent heist of a game store ended with a thief stealing about $250,000 worth of merchandise of which the pending release of Pokémon TCG Live.
While Pokémon cards have now been around for more than a quarter of a century, it was only in recent years when certain cards began to skyrocket astronomically in value. The market surrounding the buying and selling of these collectibles has become intense, requiring extra measures for verification of authenticity for the pricer transactions. In some instances, millions of dollars can exchange hands in a single transaction as was the case in the $3.5 million purchase Logan Paul made a few months back which turned out to be for fake cards. This was not the first time the YouTube star has encountered these collectibles in the seven-figures as back in 2021 Logan Paul opened $2 million worth Pokémon cards.
The story of a robbery that recently took place at a Minnesota game store also puts into perspective just how valuable some of these collectibles can be. GameSpot reported on the incident as well as the extreme lengths the thief took to pull off the heist. The individual is said to have entered the next-door business where they then proceeded to cut through the wall to break into the game shop. According to the owner, the thief made off with cash and over $200,000 worth of merchandise which brought the total stolen to about $250,000. Mary McGuire, a local reporter, shared some of the security camera footage of the incident on their Twitter .
As values continue to go up, problems with Pokémon card scalpers seem to simultaneously be on the rise. The lucrative price tags have an understandable draw to the resell market, something scalpers have used to exploit fans for some time. This has even forced some major retailers such as Target to stop the selling of Pokémon cards in stores in an effort to deal with scalpers.
It was only a matter of time before kids who had Pokémon cards in their youth grew up to be adults with enough money to finally make their dream collections reality. This has set off a chain reaction where lucrative transactions like Logan Paul's $3.5 million drive up overall value, enticing scalpers to enter the culture in pursuit of quick profits. Unfortunately, those who end up getting hurt by these practices are businesses, many of which are small, and the fans.
Source: GameSpot, Mary McGuire/Twitter
