The truth behind the viral photo showing stacks of stolen Pokémon cards

Pokémon fans around the internet have likely seen the photo by now: A table stacked with hundreds, maybe thousands, of rare cards from The Pokémon Trading Card GameAll neatly stacked, with rumors about theft and conspiracies. It was posted on a private Facebook page over the weekend before it exploded onto Reddit.

The cards had been allegedly stolen directly from the printer — how else could one person get their hands on so many rare Pokémon cards? Some players were convinced that these rare cards had been stolen and would not be included in packs sold legally. The Pokémon Trading Card Game’s Fusion Strike expansion.

Polygon interviewed the individuals involved with the attempted sales of these rare cards in order to learn what transpired.

It all begins in 2021. COVID-19 had been spreading for more than a year. The Pokémon TCG There were still new cards being released for the eager fans. Both vintage and brand new PokémonCards like these suddenly soared in price, thanks to celebrities such as the rapper Logic or influencer Logan Paul who bought them at astronomical rates. As the Fusion StrikeWhen the set was released right before Christmas, people camped in front of shops all over the country to grab a couple packs before stock ran out. Some locations even had police on hand to deal with the crowds. Target would eventually ban temporary the sale Pokémon Safety concerns are cited on cards.

Several weeks after the card frenzy began, Trading Card World in Dallas received a phone call. Someone had Fusion Strike cards to sell — a hell of a lot of them. They had so many uncommon cards in the shop that no one could believe it. They asked to see a picture as proof.

“It took them a month or two [for the seller to] provide a picture,” said Scott Emer, co-founder of Trading Card World, in an interview with Polygon. “When they finally did, we were like, This is really strange..”

Emer was familiar with the sale of large collections, though not necessarily all belonging to one set. What was the reason for such an alarming red flag.

Pokémon Cards that look like Magic: The Gathering cards, Yu-Gi-Oh!Blind packs are used to sell cards and trading cards. No one knows what cards are inside each pack, not even the manufacturer — that’s part of what makes opening them so much fun. There will always be a rare card inside every pack. The rarest cards on the market can fetch astronomical prices.

Trading Card World received a message from a seller that had dozens of these highly sought after and rare cards. All were part of this set. The seller must have opened thousands of packs to get so many rares. It is more likely that the cards in question were removed from production before being packaged into blind packs. Someone was selling Trading Card World stolen products.

“I knew someone that worked at Pokémon,” Emer said. “I called her and explained what was going on, and all of a sudden we got another phone call. We were given a couple of options. This is what’s going to happen.”

Emer’s task was to persuade the seller to ship the cards into his store for evaluation. When the cards arrived, a private investigator from The Pokémon Company met them at the store. The PI was the one who opened the package first, and together with the staff, they inventoried the shipment. The PI left the cards behind. Emer said he has no idea what happened to them after that, but Trading Card World said on Facebook that it was “asked to keep this information confidential while an active investigation was underway.”

Emer discovered more information about the events that took place behind the scenes. The Pokémon Company knew that the cards were missing even before his call. The Pokemon Company also knew that they had been stolen, according to him. The person who stole them was in custody, he was informed. No one knew the location of the cards until they were delivered to his shop. Emer was able to help the trading card company put an end what had to have been a highly sensitive issue.

The question is: Are the cards still available? Fusion StrikeDid the cards that were sold in shops contain a mix of uncommon and common cards, or was a criminal responsible for stealing them from fans before they arrived? While Emer doesn’t know the full story, he does know how publishers of trading card games do their work. He’s doubtful that fans were shortchanged on rare card hits.

“Pokémon says, Hey, we’re gonna print 50,000 of this card,” Emer said. “They know if they have all 50,000 or not. So when they go to put the packs together, they’re gonna go, Hey, we’re short 3,000 cards. Well, they’re going to call the printing press: We need another 3,000. And they’re going to hit their number.

“They already knew they were short cards,” Emer continued. “They already found the person that took them. You know they have to have made more cards in order to make up for what is missing. They’re not going to send you a pack that’s missing a card.”

Polygon reached out to The Pokémon Company for confirmation of this story, but the company has not responded to our request. Trading Card World made its statement via Facebook. However, it was in a closed group. Reddit hosts a copy.