Thieves allegedly stole $315,000 worth of Pokémon and other trading cards from Ace Grading, a UK-based grading company owned by YouTuber Randolph.
Ace Grading released a statement saying it was the victim of “a calculated and targeted attack” in which £250,000 worth of cards (about $315,839) were taken from its premises in Banbury, England. Thames Valley Police confirmed they were investigating the robbery.
While crimes targeting Pokemon and other trading cards are surprisingly common, this one carries special weight because Ace Grading is a grading company and not just a seller.
These companies received cards from collectors and graded them out of 10 to add value and authenticity, meaning each card was not strictly the property of Ace Grading but the property of hundreds of card game players and collectors around the country.
The victims have already received an email from Ace Grading, it said, with instructions to claim compensation. “We have already determined the appropriate compensation amount, and it will be issued without delay,” it added.
Some trading cards hold incredible value, with price tags in the hundreds of dollars being fairly common and some rising into the thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars. While collectors will receive compensation back, it likely won’t be a real replacement for the cards, which are incredibly rare and hard to find replacements.
The issue of incremental value is also a consideration, as grading cards, as mentioned, are a way to ensure their authenticity and increase their value, which will increase over time. A card worth $1,000 today could be worth $2,000 in five years, for example, so substituting a cash value for its current value probably won’t please many of those who submit their cards for grading.
Ace Grading said it has implemented additional, stronger security measures to further protect “(collectors’) property and maintain the integrity of our facilities. We take these matters very seriously and are committed to the trust you place in us.”
Trading cards have long been targets for theft because of their high value, but high-profile sales such as a Magic: The Gathering card selling for $3 million and a Pokemon card selling for more than $5 million have seemingly spurred more criminals to follow suit. In recent years
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department cited the increase in 2022, saying it saw an unprecedented number of crimes targeting Pokemon and other trading cards in the latter half of that year.
There are also countless high profile examples to point to. A gaming store in Minnesota saw thieves break through its walls and steal $250,000 worth of merchandise, $300,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering cards from North America’s largest board game convention in Indiana, and a total of 35,000 individual Pokémon cards stolen from a collectible store in California. An Alabama police officer was even arrested and fired for stealing Pokemon cards from Walmart.
Pokemon cards are also being implicated in other crimes, with a Hong Kong business accused of storing more than $1 million worth of crystal meth behind the scenes while using a card game shop as the front. Japanese crime syndicates are reportedly using high-value cards to launder money.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He would talk about the Witcher all day.
