PriceSpot
FBI warns card shops as thieves use stolen credit cards to buy rare Pokémon cards
Seven card shops in New Jersey have fallen for the same trick, and the FBI is now warning the rest of the trade. Dexerto reports that the bureau's Newark field office tied the cases, which ran from September 2025 to March 2026, to stolen credit cards used to buy high-value Pokémon cards. Some shops lost tens of thousands of dollars in stock. No arrests have been reported so far.
The failed tap that becomes a typed card number
It usually starts with a tap. The customer holds a phone to the card reader, the payment fails, and they ask the cashier to key in a card number by hand. That number belongs to a stolen or compromised card.
Anyone who has worked a counter will see why it gets through. Payments fail all the time, and typing in a number feels like helping someone out, especially with other customers waiting.
“What they are doing is, they're using fraudulent credit cards to accomplish that,” Kelly Blanchfield of the FBI told News 12 New Jersey.
Then there's the delay. Shops often don't find out for weeks, which leaves the thieves plenty of time to resell the cards.
NJ.com adds a second method: a criminal network using a phone app that stores multiple stolen card numbers and cycles through them at the reader until one is approved. The FBI is now investigating the app. So a tap that looks perfectly normal may already be part of the scam, even if nobody asks you to type anything.
Why thieves would rather carry cardboard
We collect and sell these things ourselves, and we can see the appeal. A card worth hundreds fits in a top loader, weighs next to nothing and has a price anyone can check. You don't need to know the hobby to work out what to take when the most expensive cards and their prices are a quick search away.
This week's risers show how much money can fit in a small display case. On the Cardmarket prices we track at PriceSpot, Rayquaza from EX Emerald went from €134.24 to €466.09, the Rayquaza V Alternate Full Art from Evolving Skies climbed from €412.72 to €520.03, and Dark Blastoise from Legendary Collection rose from €344.72 to €449.07. The reports don't name any of these as stolen, and we aren't suggesting a link to their prices. The rest of the numbers are in our weekly price report.
Smash-and-grabs and car park robberies
Some of the thefts in New Jersey have been far less subtle. The Big Pack Hobby Shop in Rochelle Park lost between $40,000 and $50,000 in Pokémon cards in a smash-and-grab in June.
Vendors have been robbed outside card shows too. One father and son lost $150,000 in Pokémon cards and $12,000 in cash in a Woodbridge hotel parking lot. For a lot of small sellers, that would be years of buying and trading gone.
We like how trusting this hobby can be, with people chatting across tables and opening their binders to strangers. We'd still think twice before crossing a car park after a show with the whole stock in one bag.
What the FBI wants shops to do
The bureau's advice is short:
- Disable manual card entry, or ask for photo ID whenever it's used.
- Keep display cases locked.
- Install cameras and panic buttons.
If we ran a shop in the area, we'd start with manual entry. Switching it off will sometimes annoy a genuine customer whose phone won't cooperate, and we'd live with that. It also helps to give staff a line to use: “Sorry, we don't key in card numbers, do you have the physical card or another way to pay?” Nobody then has to make the call on the spot with a queue building.
Staff should also know the pattern the FBI describes, a failed tap followed by a request to type in a number. On a big purchase of singles, we'd stop right there.
Buyers have a stake in this too
The warning is aimed at shops, but the stolen cards get resold to someone. The reports don't say where they end up, so we won't guess. We would be more careful with any rare card offered well below market by a seller who can't say much about where it came from. Check what the card is actually worth before you get excited about a bargain.
And if you sell at shows, keep an up-to-date list of what's in the bag. A few photos of your best cards on your phone are a good start.
A collector's tip
Keep a list of what you own and what it's worth. It sounds like a chore until you need it: for insurance, for selling or just to avoid buying the same card twice. We use PriceSpot for exactly that: run the cards past the camera in burst mode and each one is saved with its Cardmarket price. If you're just starting out, this guide helps: how much is my Pokémon card worth.
News source: Dexerto
