Summary
A group ofPokemoncard thieves were recently apprehended after the staff of a game store distracted them with casual conversation. ThePokemon Trading Card Gameremains popular the world over, with some of the rarest cards being worth thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, this means thatPokemoncards are sometimes the subject of criminal activity, with would-be scalpers stealing them and reselling them at inflated prices to unaware customers.
Some of the biggest reports ofPokemoncards being stolenhave led to huge profit losses for small-town gaming outlets like the Enter the Battlefield trading card store in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, which was the target of a major theft on September 18. Around 300PokemonandMagic the Gatheringcards were taken, valued at roughly $150,000 according to the store’s owner, Kris Fekete.
Those same cards would turn up about a month later at the OMG Games store in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, and this ultimately led to the arrest of the thieves who took them in the first place. As reported byCTV News, two men entered the store on October 1, offeringto tradePokemoncardsfor a large amount of money. An employee recognized the cards in question as the ones that were reported stolen from Enter the Battlefield, and shop owner Rick Bates contacted both Kris Fekete and the York Regional Police.
Game Stop Staff Kept Pokemon Card Thieves Busy Until Police Arrived
Bates was told to stall the would-be scalpers until the authorities arrived, which a staff member did by engaging in small talk as Bates discussed concerns aboutthe counterfeitPokemoncards. The staffer managed to keep the suspects busy for roughly 30 to 40 minutes, long enough for the Barrie police to show up and arrest them. About 25 percent of the stolen merchandise was recovered, valued at roughly $30,000 to $40,000. The two Georgina men who took thesePokemonandMagic the Gatheringcards have been charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Not everyhigh-valuePokemoncard robberyhas led to the perpetrators being arrested, so it’s nice to hear that at least one case has seen justice served and some of the stolen property being recovered. As a few weeks had passed between the cards being stolen and the thieves being caught, it’s sadly possible that the rest of the lostPokemoncards have already been resold. At least the owners of Enter the Battlefield were able to recover some of their lost merchandise, thanks to the quick thinking and stalling tactics of the staff of another game store miles away.
Pokemon TCG
Pokemon TCG (Trading Card Game) is a collectible and strategy based card game based on Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise. Two players face off against one another, battling one Pokemon at a time and attempting to knock them out to claim one of six prize cards. The cards have also become highly collectible with some in particular selling for thousands of dollars.
