Pokémon cards were the target of multiple recent card shop burglaries in Tokyo

According to The Japan Times, numerous burglaries have taken place at various trading card shops in Tokyo over the past year, particularly between November and December of 2022. The target - Pokémon cards, whose values have been increasing more and more as of late.

The total estimated damages as a result of the thefts is in the range of tens of millions of yen since last summer. One particularly bad case involved a store in the city of Machida, where a mere 60 cards were stolen with an estimated value of 8.5 million yen. In addition to these burglaries, the Japan Times also reports on bad second-hand deals and rampant fraud related to Pokémon cards.

Unfortunately, Tokyo’s police department is apparently having difficulty tracking down the culprits in these cases, as Pokémon cards are nearly impossible to track and can easily be transported overseas. As the value of these cards continues to increase, and the market gets more and more competitive, incidents like this become more likely. If you’ve got a valuable Pokémon card collection at home, keep it safe!