Summary
- Pokemon TCG card theft is on the rise, with high-value cards being swiped from stores and sellers.
- Buying and reselling valuable cards comes with risks, as stolen cards are difficult to track.
- Recent theft in Oshawa, Canada resulted in arrest of suspect Mark Morgan, but cards not recovered.
Police have arrested a man who allegedly stole $5,000 worth of Pokemon Trading Card Game cards. The Pokemon TCG theft is just the latest in a surge in Pokemon TCG-related crimes that have seen high value cards swiped from stores and individual sellers.
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A report has now come out of Oshawa, Canada, revealing that a thief stole approximately $5,000 worth of Pokemon TCG cards from a game store. It was a brazen attempt, happening at about 2 pm on July 11, while the store was open for business. The thief apparently knew what they were looking for, as they walked into the store and stole three cards: a Mario Pikachu Promo, Greninja EX, and Team Magma Groudon EX card. A female employee chased after the thief, but the thief hit her with a hard object and she ended up having to go to the hospital for care.
Initially, the thief got away. However, just a day later, the police tracked down the alleged suspect and arrested him. The alleged perpetrator has been identified as Mark Morgan, an 41-year-old with no permanent home address. Unfortunately, the three cards that he stole have not been recovered, and may have already been sold off by the time he was tracked down by the cops.
Pokemon TCG Theft is a Big Problem
While many people love collecting and playing with Pokemon TCG cards, unfortunately, the amount of crime surrounding the game has gone up over the years. Major retailers have ended up completely locking down their Pokemon cards to avoid mass theft. Meanwhile, some workers at the Van Gogh Museum ended up stealing the special Pikachu Van Gogh promo cards, while a GameStop employee and even a Prison Guard have also allegedly stolen Pokemon cards.
Due to the nature of Pokemon cards having no serial number, swiping them and reselling them likely makes for a quick profit for some thieves. Buyers may end up purchasing a card that was previously stolen without having any way of knowing that's the case. Unfortunately, this makes it extremely difficult to track down stolen cards, and makes targets of Pokemon TCG retailers and individual sellers who keep high-value cards among their stock or collections.
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Original Release Date
- October 20, 1996
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.