Inside The Booming, Dangerous World Of Pokémon Cards

The skyrocketing value of rare Pokémon trading cards has turned what was once a childhood pastime into a target for increasingly bold criminals, with armed robberies and burglaries hitting collectors and specialty stores across the U.S. in recent months, The New York Post reports.

In one of the most recent high-profile cases, three masked suspects stormed Poké Court in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District on January 15 during a community event attended by more than 40 people. The robbers brandished firearms, smashed display cases with hammers, and fled with more than $100,000 worth of cards and cash, including a first-edition Charizard valued at around $15,000, according to CBS News.

Days earlier, a collector leaving RWT Collective in West Los Angeles was held at gunpoint in an underground parking lot and relieved of approximately $300,000 in rare Pokémon cards, ABC7 reports. That incident was part of a broader wave of strikes in Southern California over that weekend, including a power-tool break-in at Simi Sportscards in Simi Valley that resulted in losses estimated between $10,000 and $50,000, as well as earlier burglaries at stores in Burbank—where four suspects were arrested after a December 2025 theft valued in six figures—Glendale, and other locations, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Additionally, Tag Collects in Carrollton, Georgia, lost nearly $100,000 on Christmas Eve, while multiple metro Atlanta shops saw combined losses exceeding six figures, FOX 5 reports. An armed robbery at a Wilmington, North Carolina, store yielded $20,000 in stolen goods and led to an arrest in January 2026. Scattered incidents have also been reported in states including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Fargo, North Dakota, according to The Post.

“The cards are fungible and unregistered,” collector Charlie Hurlocker told The Post. “You don’t need a black market.”

The Pokémon card craze is so hot that even celebrities are getting in on the action.

YouTuber Logan Paul is currently auctioning his one-of-a-kind PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator card through Goldin Auctions. Paul originally acquired it for $5.275 million, and bidding—set to close on February 15—has already reached $5.1 million, or $6.324 million including the buyer’s premium.

“I just gotta bring a security team to move it with me,” Paul reportedly told auction house head Ken Goldin.

“I’ve got a bunch of armed guards here,” Goldin, who stars in “King of Collectibles: The Golden Touch” on Netflix, said he told Paul. “We can meet you.”

So what’s really behind the surge in value? Goldin told The Post that he believes nostalgia is the culprit.

Fellas, it might be time to put down the pictures of cartoon creatures and touch grass.