The disappearance of 6,450 cards graded by PSA might make this the biggest Pokémon TCG theft of all time

Earlier in October, authorities revealed that a FedEx truck reportedly containing nearly $1 million in cards graded by the Professional Sports Authenticator had suddenly gone missing. A couple of weeks later, the apparent theft of 6,451 slabs — many of which contained Pokémon cards — is being scrutinized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

PSA is a service used by collectors to determine the quality of a card. When you see headlines about a Pokémon card being worth millions, that estimation is probably based on the grade the card received from PSA (10 being the highest). While PSA insures cards during their assessment and return, high value cards might still have to change hands multiple times before reaching their destination. Shipments can and do go missing, though usually not on this kind of scale — hence the FBI's involvement.

In this case, a FedEx truck containing PSA cards in Santa Ana was apparently raided on October 13, sometime after the carrier picked up the graded cards. PSA says it is already working toward ensuring all of its affected customers receive a refund for grading services, and it is compensating customers based on the "fair market value" of each item. While these measures are a courtesy to ensure that customers don't have to wait until the conclusion of the investigation, collectors are arguably at the mercy of whatever the service determines to be the proper amount of restitution.

Source link