Inside the latest crime craze: Pokemon cards

A new criminal underworld is operating across Australia, but these brazen thieves aren’t targeting jewellery or cash.

Instead, they’re preying on hobby shops for a ’90s relic small enough to fit in a back pocket: Pokémon cards.

“You’re just holding onto a piece of card in plastic that’s worth a nice car or a house deposit,” General Games worker Kathy Tardio said.

“It’s insane.”

What started 30 years ago as a childhood obsession has exploded into a global craze and a lucrative market where rare cards sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

But the surge in value has come at a devastating cost to some businesses.

At Mind Games in Melbourne’s Moonee Ponds, owner Lucas Hipkins captured CCTV of a crowbar-wielding intruder who, along with an accomplice, made off with $10,000 worth of cards in a single trip.

“It’s not a case of if we get hit, it’s a case of when,” General Games chief executive Ryan Street said.

“I don’t think there is a store that hasn’t been broken into.”

Street’s business has been hit three separate times. One incident, he revealed, involved an alleged inside job where it’s claimed a store manager was “stealing product, stealing cards, working with customers ... to basically defraud and fleece the store” of tens of thousands of dollars in stock.

More than 85 billion Pokémon cards have been printed since the franchise launched, more than half of those in the past six years.

And production isn’t slowing down. Year-on-year, more than 1000 new types of cards hit the market, and some are fetching big bucks.

In February, US influencer Logan Paul broke records after selling his ultra-rare Pikachu card for $23.6 million.

But you don’t need a multimillion-dollar card to turn a profit.

According to criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro, stolen cards are often flipped online via platforms like Facebook Marketplace or eBay for easy cash.

“Crooks like a quick turnaround, they’re not long-term planners,” Watson-Munro said, adding that international crime syndicates cannot be ruled out as the market grows.

Businesses are calling for a dedicated police taskforce to crack down on card-related thefts once and for all.

“For store owners, it’s not just fun and games, this is their livelihood,” Street said.

“We see it as a serious crime and [police] see it as a serious crime, but they just don’t have the resources.”

No charges have been laid in relation to any of the incidents mentioned, but police have confirmed investigations are ongoing.