A string of heists and robberies have hit Los Angeles, targeting Pokémon cards. Most recently, thieves and muggers hit a store and confronted a customer in the same day. The thieves managed to get away with over $300K in cards.
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I guess they brought their Klefki (it’s a Pokémon that looks like a key, in case you didn’t get it. Look it up, I’m being serious).
The New York Post reported that on January 4 there were two robberies in Los Angeles where thieves stole valuable Pokémon cards.
Footage obtained by the outlet shows a group of five masked men using a reciprocating saw to break into a display in Simi Sportscards in Simi Valley. They broke into the store at 3:30 a.m. They didn’t care about the security alarms, however, as they grabbed as many Pokémon and sports cards as possible.
After they were finished, they ran away with roughly $50,000 worth of cards. “They were in and out in three minutes,” the store owner, Jake Miller, told the outlet. “I have a few cards in the $1,000 range, but this was about volume, they got it all.”
Other Pokémon Card Robberies See Someone Lose A Collection Worth $300,000
On the same day, at 10:00 p.m., per NBC Los Angeles and other outlets, a RWT Collective customer was held at gunpoint. The customer entered underground parking garage, where he was stopped and mugged of his rare collection of cards worth $300,000.
Jake Miller of Simi Sportscards told The Post that he believes there is an “organized ring or multiple rings” of Pokémon poachers. Apparently, in recent months, Pokémon catchers hit four other stores.
Pokémon cards can be incredibly valuable, which is the allure to many who collect. They are also easy to resell, as explained by Miller. “They can go to a card show and unload them pretty easily or they can sit on them for a few months,” he said.
So Los Angeles Pokémon hunters beware: it looks like you have your very own Team Rocket on the loose. Only these ones have guns.