A Las Vegas expert on Pokémon trading cards said he’s not surprised to learn of a string of crimes victimizing card traders in Southern Nevada considering the explosion in value of the cherished items.
“You can have cards that are worth a million dollars,” said Tino Lee of Ultimate Sports Cards and Memorabilia in downtown Las Vegas. “Very, very expensive. Very, very rare.”
Lee said there are some basic safety tips that Pokémon traders can follow to protect themselves, including doing business with licensed, reputable card dealers like Ultimate and others in the Las Vegas Valley.
Doing so appears to be well advised given the fact that multiple men told the Metropolitan Police Department that they were swindled out of roughly $250,000 in cash and Pokémon cards during online dealings with buyers and sellers.
Metro arrested Mark Cole Shepherd, 22, twice this year on multiple felonies, alleging he duped Pokémon card traders out of at least $160,000 in both money and Pokémon cards.
In one instance police said Shepherd agreed to sell a buyer high-value Pokémon trading cards for $100,000, but after the buyer sent Shepherd money police said he never provided the cards.
In another case, Shepherd was accused of arranging a deal to purchase other high-value Pokémon trading cards, but police said the wire transfer Shepherd used to convince the seller to hand over the cards ended up being fake.
Shepherd pleaded guilty in April to comprehensive theft $100,000 or more, a felony. He received a suspended prison sentence of four to 15 years in prison and was placed on probation for up to four years, according to court records. He was ordered pay nearly $174,000 in restitution.
“The nature of these crimes is not unique,” said Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Austin Beaumont, who prosecuted Shepherd’s case. “Memorabilia theft and fraud is fairly common. I believe it is becoming more common in Pokémon because of the extraordinary value of Pokémon cards.
“When there is that much money to be made in trading something like this, whether it is baseball cards, movie memorabilia or Pokémon cards — those kind of high level trading systems invite fraud for quick money,” he said.
In a separate criminal case, Antonio Darrell Childs, 27, of Las Vegas, was charged in July with theft more than $100,000 after police said a California man met Childs through a group chat.
Childs, police said, wanted to purchase nine Pokémon cards and two sports cards for $171,000. The two men met at the Venetian and Childs wired the man the money in exchange for the cards, but when the seller checked his bank account later the money never arrived. Authorities alleged in a police report that the wire transfer was fake and that Childs may have used a bank app simulator to mimic a wire transfer.
Childs is due back in Las Vegas Justice Court on Aug. 31.
For those looking to get into Pokémon card trading, and perhaps even make a buck off it, Lee recommends some basic safety steps. In addition to going through reputable card dealers, he recommends frequenting established card shows that have a history of hosting card dealers with verifiable reputations. Cards known as “graded” cards, which are generally of higher value, have QR codes on them that can be checked via scanning for authenticity.
For purchasing lower value cards, he recommends financial transactions in cash or PayPal and generally avoiding wire transfers. He also recommends other basic safety steps that are applicable to lots of other transactions: checking people’s backgrounds and histories, checking references, and meeting in public places like in a police station parking lot for in-person transactions.
“I’ve heard stories of people going and saying, ‘Hey I want to buy this or I have this card, come buy this,’ and it is $5,000 or $6,000 worth of product or cards,” Lee said. “And, people will set up the meetings and then rob them for the money. Normally what I recommend for the most part is being able to trade with people at card shows or with reputable dealers.”
Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.