From schoolyards to millionaire investments: how Pokémon collecting has become a site of scams, thefts and even knee-jerks
Who lived the years as a teenager Eighty or ninety he certainly remembers the mornings spent exchanging cards Magic or of footballers Sandwiches in the schoolyard. An innocent passion that today, with the Pokémon phenomenonhas transformed not only into a craze involving fashion trends, but also and above all into a rush of speculation by thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
The 24 thousand euro scam
In recent months, Italy has seen a worrying increase in scams, thefts and even violent incidents linked to the cards of the Japanese monsterspushed by record prices achieved by the rarest pieces. The most egregious scam involved a Roman collector and its collection evaluated 24 thousand euros. The scam was bold and well orchestrated: two thirty-year-olds they pretended to be interested buyers and convinced the victim to arrange a meeting. Everything was normal until the two bad guys made the excuse of going to one reception office to make online payment. And instead they disappeared with the entire loot. The police managed to trace the scammers who revealed themselves two carnies from the province of Paduareturning the precious collection to its rightful owner.
Gambled for a card
This is not an isolated case. THE’October 8th in Apriliain the province of Latina, a 31 year old man organized a ambush in broad daylight to a peer, hitting him in the legs with gunshots. The motive? The attacker had accused the victim of stealing from him Valuable Pokémon cards. Now he has to answer for attempted murder.
From valuable paper to waste paper
TO Bust Arsizio Another unbelievable scam has occurred: a Italian-English collector was scammed during the sale of one Pikachu card of the value of half a million euros. At the time of the meeting, the scammers presented themselves with a briefcase apparently full of banknotesbut with a skillful hand play they replaced money with waste paper. The collector realized the deception when it was too late.
How to protect yourself from scams
The Italian police forces report a constant increase in scam attemptsboth online and offline: the increasing value of some cards it’s tempting common crimewith fake buyers, targeted thefts in specialized shops And scams between private individuals. The authorities advise to be cautious and spread a handbook in case of sale of valuable cards between private individuals, how to organize the meeting in a public place, verify reliability of the buyer on online sales platforms ed avoid delivery of the goods before payment.
On the other hand, according to the market analysis company Kings ResearchThe overall value of the Pokémon market in 2022 it was close to i 9.7 billion dollarswith growth forecasts of up to 20 billion by 2030. It is therefore not surprising that even the Japanese organized crime started using the cards of Pikachu and companions as a means to launder dirty money.
Pikachu from Guinness
The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold is the Pikachu Illustrator Holoawarded to the YouTuber Logan Paul in 2022 for 5.3 million dollarsa figure that earned him the Guinness World Record. It is an almost unique piece: only 41 were created and it is not known how many have survived around the world. In short, it is the Holy Grail of the sector, so much so that in September 2025 a $4 million example was auctioned on eBay.
It’s not the only example of stratospheric valuations, there are cards created for anniversariesFor special events and for exclusive tournamentsbut also the versions with printing errors they can reach hundreds of thousands of euros. So a niche marketonce reserved for teenagers and enthusiastsis today dominated by speculators and investors that they transformed Pikachu in a financial asset.
