Pokémon’s Multibillion-Dollar Card Boom Sparks a Crime Wave
As a childhood hobby becomes an asset class, theft and fraud are spreading across the fast-growing market.
Illustration: Daniel Guerrero Fernández for Bloomberg
Over the Lunar New Year holidays in February, Jeffrey Law’s phone lit up with security alerts in the early hours of the morning. The 25-year-old rushed to his store in Hong Kong’s Chung Mei Center within minutes, to find a smashed window and boxes strewn across the floor.
The loot wasn’t cash but sealed packs of Pokémon cards.