Robbers Steal $100,000 Card from Manhattan Store
Pok?mon Card Market Expands... Crime Cases on the Rise
In the heart of New York City, a group of armed robbers wielding guns and hammers boldly stole collectibles related to the popular Japanese animation "Pok?mon" and made their escape.
On January 14 (local time), NBC News and other outlets reported that three robbers broke into a Pok?mon store in central Manhattan, threatened employees and customers, and fled with high-value cards.
The robbery took place around 6 p.m. and lasted about three minutes. At the time, there were more than 50 people in the store, including staff and customers, but they were unable to resist the robbers who pointed their pistols at them. Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed the robbers, dressed in black, smashing display cases with hammers and taking out the cards.
Rare Pok?mon card sold for 400 million KRW at a 2022 auction in the United States. Photo by Yonhap News
No one was injured in the incident, and the store owner said that about $100,000 (approximately 147 million KRW) worth of merchandise was stolen. Among the stolen items, the most expensive card was valued at around $30,000. Police are currently tracking the robbers who fled the scene after the crime.
This is not the first time a Pok?mon-related theft has occurred. The Pok?mon card market has seen prices surge in recent years due to overlapping fandom and investment demand. Rare edition cards are traded like artwork or watches, and incidents of these items becoming targets of crime are increasing.
In July of last year, William Gilmore, who operates a specialty Pok?mon collectibles store in Massachusetts, revealed through social media that his store had been robbed.
He said, "A robber cleaned out the store in just 30 seconds, stealing five rare Pok?mon cards and high-value items such as vintage boxes." The stolen cards included Charizard and Blastoise editions, and their value was estimated at between $100,000 and $113,000.
CCTV footage showed a suspect wearing a mask and hat breaking the door with a hammer and heading toward the display cases at around 2:30 a.m. Police launched an investigation, but were unable to locate the suspect.
In Japan, the home of Pok?mon, there have also been cases where crimes were committed to raise funds for purchasing Pok?mon cards. In 2022, a 25-year-old unemployed man from Sapporo was arrested for using someone else's credit card without authorization to purchase about 1,000 Pok?mon cards from an online store.
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