GTA businesses are increasing security due to Pokémon card theft
The collectible cards have gone up in value in recent years
Is nothing sacred?
A new report from CBC says some GTA businesses have been forced to increase security following growing theft occurrences and even robberies targeting Pokémon trading cards.
John Amendola, a collectibles shop-owner, said he’s installed alarm systems and 24-hour security cameras at his Ajax and Vaughan stores, and that at some entrances, customers have to be buzzed in by staff.
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His company has endured three break-ins, an armed robbery and theft and mail fraud worth six figures, he told CBC.
Another GTA shop owner, William Chong, explained that the value of Pokémon trading cards has significantly gone up in recent years. “A card that might have been $100 a year ago is now $1,000 or $1,500,” he said.
Chong’s Scarborough location has been broken into twice. He has now also installed security cameras, and no longer keeps high-value items on-site. “If we have a card that’s [worth], say, $10,000, if a customer comes in asking for it, we’ll set up an appointment time with them rather than just leaving it in the showcase at the store,” he said.
Last year, stolen Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards estimated to be worth $100,000 were recovered by police in Aurora, according to CBC.
It would seem these Pokémon thieves heard “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!" and took it to a sinister place.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
