Criminals in Tokyo have dedicated a slew of burglaries focused on high-value buying and selling playing cards, and the thefts have amounted to “tens of hundreds of thousands of yen” in damages, in keeping with a brand new record from The Japan Times.
First noticed by means of Nintendo Life, The Japan Occasions article cites resources from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Division and describes how “a number of” shops situated within the town’s Akihabara district had fallen sufferer to late-night card burglaries within the latter part of 2022.
One December break-in noticed criminals make away with 60 high-value playing cards price a grand general of 8.5 million yen ($64,147 USD). This used to be simply one among 5 burglaries focused on buying and selling playing cards that experience came about because the Summer time of 2022.
Alternatively, now not the entire burglaries had been of a bodily nature. On December 14 remaining 12 months, a 25-year-old guy used to be arrested after allegedly buying kind of 1,000 Pokemon playing cards from an internet retailer the usage of a stolen bank card. It’s concept that the person used to be then ready to re-sell his ill-gotten mon at a second-hand Tokyo card retailer ahead of getting picked up by means of the police.
Unnamed resources in The Japan Occasions piece additionally famous that the playing cards are a very easy goal for thieves, and that “It is tough to spot the whereabouts of stolen playing cards as a result of they aren’t uniquely numbered and could also be taken in a foreign country”.
Within the 2021 fiscal 12 months finishing in March 2022, the Jap buying and selling card marketplace used to be estimated to have a price of kind of 178 billion yen (1.34 billion USD), in keeping with the web site Statista. This accounted for nearly 20 % of all of the nation’s toy marketplace all over that duration.
It’s price noting that the new spate of crimes doesn’t constitute the primary time that humanity’s lust for collectable playing cards has positioned people at the fallacious aspect of the legislation.
Back in March 2021 a person used to be arrested after allegedly the usage of a rope to descend from a six-story construction to be able to destroy into but every other retailer within the Higashi-Ikebukuro district. The 28-year-old used to be reportedly ready to abscond with a haul of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh playing cards with a price of one million yen (round $9,100 USD), and hundreds of greenbacks price of money ahead of being arrested by means of the police.
Only some months later in March, a Georgian man was arrested for the usage of a fraudulently obtained COVID-19 reduction mortgage to shop for a first-edition shadowless holographic Charizard.
We will be able to best hope that the worldwide police power are ready to finish their prison Pokedex ahead of to any extent further harm is finished to the sector’s provide of treasured buying and selling playing cards.
Anthony is a contract contributor overlaying science and video gaming information for IGN. He has over 8 years enjoy of overlaying breaking trends in a couple of medical fields and completely no time in your shenanigans. Observe him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
