A trading card shop in Texas was broken into, with four suspects stealing over $100,000 in Pokemon TCG cards and causing $25,000 in damage. Pokemon TCG has become increasingly more popular worldwide over the years, to the point that valuable cards can be sold for thousands of dollars, and new releases are often scalped on launch. This has caused a lot of issues within the community and the hobby, as some fans are priced out of new sets because they are sold for more than double their MSRP on third-party sites, and other sets become so rare that the average player never opens a pack.
This phenomenon has not gone unnoticed, though. Nintendo has commented on Pokemon TCG‘s scalping issues and stated that it’s looking into more ways to prevent it, but only some stores are making attempts at this. Even then, the market for rare cards is mostly inaccessible, as some pieces are never going to be reprinted or are extremely rare. Pokemon cards can be very expensive, and as a result, the hobby is often plagued by theft, too, be it at local game stores or even at collectors’ homes.
Four Suspects Steal $100,000 in Pokemon TCG Cards From Texas Shop
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Image via The Pokemon Company -
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A trading card shop called The PokeHive, located in Castle Hills, Texas, was broken into by presumably four people who managed to steal Pokemon TCG cards for over $100k. Castle Hills police were dispatched in the middle of the night last Saturday, August 8, when the business alarm at The PokeHive rang, as reported by KSAT.com. The door of the shop was forced open, and many glass displays were shattered and stolen from. The store owner, named Cole Blancett, stated that the four suspects stole over $100,000 in Pokemon TCG cards, and noted that these are “liquid assets” that thieves are “able to cash out and move product quickly, usually anonymously.” Pokemon TCG thefts of cards worth thousands of dollars are not unheard of, but over $100k in cards is an eye-watering loss.
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The PokeHive was stolen from in another robbery of Pokemon cards, when the store first opened in 2023. As for this latest incident, Blancett said that the store also suffered $25,000 in damage between repairs and damaged assets. Security camera footage shows four suspects packing boxes of Pokemon cards and other valuables in two large buckets that they then carry out of the store in a rush. Police reportedly found blood near the shattered displays, which may speed up the identification process, but the investigation is still ongoing.
While stolen cards will most likely be sold through other existing stores, it’s clear the hobby is in a rough spot. When it comes to scalping, Pokemon TCG retailer Target is unsealing boxes to reduce their value on third-party websites, cutting the potential profit of scalpers, should they mass-buy from the chain’s shops.
On top of all that, PSA grading company is being hit with a class action lawsuit over alleged inconsistencies in grading practices. PSA has been used widely among Pokemon fans and collectors. Hopefully, Nintendo’s actions to prevent scalping will work, which may cause much less fuss about new launches and expensive cards in the future.
