Someone is accused of attempting to sell a large number of rare Fusion Strike cards stolen from The Pokémon Company. Someone appears to have stolen a slew of rare Fusion Strike cards from The Pokémon Company. According to evidence obtained from a Dallas-based Pokémon trading card community, the suspected thief attempted to sell the cards to a local shop before handing them up to The Pokémon Company in what the business describes as the “largest return of stolen property to date” in the trading card game’s history.
Pokemon Cards Stolen From Factory
Over the weekend, information about the alleged robbery began to leak out of the closed Pokémon World Facebook group onto Reddit. A snapshot of stacks of premium Fusion Strike cards, ranging from full art trainers to VMAX Mews, Espeons, and Gengars, soon went viral on r/PokemonTCG. “Saw this on an FB group,” GuavaWave, a Reddit user, posted on April 15. “A printing company employee allegedly stole hits from the line and attempted to sell them to an LGS.” GuavaWave returned the next day with a post of a statement from Trading Card World (TCW), the card shop where the suspected thief allegedly sought to sell the cards. TCW claimed it was skeptical of the haul right away, arguing that the only way someone could have such a concentrated amount of rare cards from one set was to make counterfeits or steal them.
When confronted, the vendor allegedly admitted to working for a Pokémon card production firm. According to TCW, it promptly notified The Pokémon Company, which conducted its own investigation and retrieved the stolen cards. In the statement they say, Trading Card World was recognized by Pokémon Corp for their vital support to the recovery of these stolen products. It was the largest-ever return of stolen items. Also in response to that request, TCW has kept this tale and its significant role out of the spotlight.
This may have been the end of the tale, except that Fusion Strike, a 2021 expansion, has long been blamed by collectors and enthusiasts for having some of the worst draw rates in contemporary Pokémon card history. Some rare cards, such as Alternate Art Vmax Mew, were predicted to be up to four times more difficult to get than the most sought-after cards in previous expansions. The material was anecdotal at best, but it became common knowledge among some members of the community. It all happened during the game’s post-covid boom when The Pokémon Company couldn’t print new cards quickly enough to meet up with demand.