Number of thefts spirals as value of trading cards skyrockets…

UK gaming stores have become prime targets for so-called “shoplifting entrepreneurs” hunting valuable Pokémon cards, it has emerged.

Nottinghamshire alone has reported four high-profile crimes in recent weeks, according to the BBC. In one brazen incident, police arrested two suspects after thieves smashed through a brick wall to steal Pokémon cards worth an estimated £10,000 from a warehouse.

Thefts related to the franchise have not been confined to Nottinghamshire, though, with Pokémon cards targeted from stores and private collections around the country – and across the globe.

The Certified Trading Card Association, based in the United States, said there had been a “large rise” in the number of thefts targeting US trading card stores too.

Chief executive Nick Jarman explained Pokémon cards had become “high value”, as well as a “highly liquid” product, which were “really hard” to trace on secondary markets.

The Pokémon trading cards, tied to the popular Japanese animation franchise, have skyrocketed in value over recent years, with some rare cards selling for thousands of pounds.

Prof Emmeline Taylor, a criminologist at City St George’s, University of London told the BBC amid a “retail crime epidemic”, criminals were operating with an “increased precision focus” on items they can steal in bulk “relatively easily” and sell on for profit.

“I think that’s where we’re seeing this step change and that emphasis on items that are very desirable, collectable and also increasing in price,” she said.

“In terms of collectables, we know that there’s this growing market, so I’ve called the criminals that have latched on to this the shoplifting entrepreneurs. They’re individuals that we would not necessarily expect to steal or commit other offences.”

She explained that “shoplifting entrepreneurs” knew how to sell a product they were familiar with into the right market “almost immediately”.