Thieves have allegedly stolen more than $315,000 worth of Pokémon and other trading cards from UK-based grading company Ace Grading, owned by YouTuber Randolph.
Ace Grading released a statement saying it was the victim of "a calculated and targeted attack" that saw more than £250,000 worth of cards (around $315,839) taken from its premises in Banbury, England. Thames Valley Police has confirmed it is investigating the robbery.
While crimes targeting Pokémon and other trading cards are surprisingly common, this one has particular weight to it given Ace Grading is a grading company and not just a vendor.
These companies receive cards from collectors and grade them out of 10 to add value and authenticity, meaning every card taken wasn't strictly the property of Ace Grading but instead the property of hundreds of card game players and collectors around the country.
Those affected have already received an email from Ace Grading, it said, along with instructions on claiming compensation. "We have already determined appropriate compensation amounts, and this will be issued without delay," it added.
Some trading cards do hold incredible value, with price tags of hundreds of dollars fairly common and some rising to thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars. While collectors will receive compensation back, it will likely be no real replacement for the cards themselves which can be incredibly rare and difficult to find replacements for.
The issue of increasing value is also a consideration, as grading cards, as mentioned, is a way to ensure their authenticity and increase their value, something that will only go up as time goes on. A card worth $1,000 today may be worth $2,000 in five years, for example, so a cash value replacement for its current value likely won't appease many of those who submitted their cards for grading.
Ace Grading said it has "implemented additional, robust security measures to further protect [collectors'] property and maintain the integrity of our facility. We take these matters extremely seriously and remain committed to the trust that you have placed in us."
Trading cards have long been the target of thefts given their high value, but high profile sales such as a Magic: The Gathering Card selling for $3 million and a Pokémon card selling for more than $5 million have seemingly spurred more and more criminals to pursue them in recent years.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department noted this increase in 2022, saying it had seen an unprecedented number of crimes targeting Pokémon and other trading cards in the latter half of that year.
There are myriad high profile examples to point to too. A gaming store in Minnesota saw $250,000 worth of product stolen after thieves broke through its wall, $300,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering cards were stolen from North America's largest board game convention in Indiana, and a total of 35,000 individual Pokémon cards were stolen from a collectibles store in California. Even an Alabama police officer was arrested and fired for stealing Pokémon cards from Walmart.
Pokémon cards are being involved in other crimes too, with a Hong Kong business allegedly using a card game shop as a front while storing more than $1 million worth of crystal meth behind the scenes. Japanese crime syndicates are reportedly using high value cards to launder money too.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
