Man Breaks into Card Store with a Rope, Stole Pokemon Cards

General
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The Escape Rope was super effective!!! :ninja:
Copy pasted this story from PokeGuardian: www.pokeguardian.com/638755_man-breaks-into-card-store-with-a-rope-stole-pokemon-cards

A 28-year old Japanese man in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, has been arrested for suspicion of theft for stealing cash and trading cards worth thousands of dollars.

The man named Kensuke Nakanishi is suspected of stealing money and trading cards (Pokémon cards and Yu-Gi-Oh) by breaking into a card shop. He hung a rope (without lifeline) from the roof into the top floor of a six-story building and entered the building by breaking a store window with a tool.

Nakanishi broke into a specialty card shop store in Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima around 5 AM on March 23, 2021. He has allegedly stolen cash worth of 300.000 yen ($2.731 USD) and roughly 80 trading cards, including Pokémon Card Game and Yu-Gi-Oh cards with an estimated market value of approximately 1 million yen ($9.105 USD).

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department their investigation, Nakanishi said in a statement: “I was in the rock climbing club when I was a student. I thought that it would sell well if resold (these cards).” This was also paying for his debt as he has reportedly admitted this, “I did it to pay off a debt.”

Nakanishi was identified during an investigation by the Ikebukuro Police Station as a possible suspect after he was spotted in video footage from security cameras in the surrounding area of the store.

We discovered that this specific card store that was broken into, is BIG MAGIC Ikebukuro store. They are a popular card shop store in Japan with multiple store locations. They closed the store on the day this incident happened. ‘’[Store information] We will be temporarily closed due to circumstances today. We apologize for the inconvenience.’’

This story also has been covered on Japanese television news (Fuji News Network) on March 29, 2021. You can watch the coverage here of this incident on the Fuji News Network Youtube Channel in the article below. In the second video at 0:28 min from the Youtube Channel of NTV News24, you can see a reconstruction in 3D how he used the rope to climb down to break into the store.

A Japanese man also got arrested in 2020 for attempted fraud by sending in faked popsicle sticks to win a limited edition Zarude V promo card.

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Was there last year and loved the place, they had an amazing selection of cards on display. I hope they get them back safe and sound.

I’ll be honest, it has crossed my mind during the recent boom in Japanese product that Yakuza could get involved (if they aren’t yet) in the trading card business for money laundering purposes.

I think there’s video footage of the robber trying to pay his debt with pokemon cards though:

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What a moron.

Yet another reason why I don’t keep my cards at my house. Cards = Cash. Never have a lot on hand, you never know what’ll happen.

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So he just went out and admitted it huh

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These were cards left at a card shop, not the card shop owner’s house. But yeah I get what you mean.

Just saying
 FYI
 now the entire internet can rule out your house when hunting for your Pokémon cards.

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Heheh, nice. Love Door Monster’s skits.

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Was just generally speaking on not leaving out high value things in your home, not just Pokemon cards. Either have a safe that is bolted to the ground or make the investment to store collectable else where. My old local card shop had a gunsafe that was bolted that they threw most of their inventory in. I’m pretty shocked that a store left out high value cards, you’d think they’d have a locked safe somewhere in there if they are packing that much $$ in cards.

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$9,100.00USD, 80 cards. Would you pay to store items off-site with an average value of $113? Do you not store your nice clothes at home?

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I put my phone in a safe before I go to sleep!

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@icollectr, I do understand your position, but it is important to consider the following:

  1. Burglary/armed robbery aren’t as prevalent in Japan as they are in the US.

  2. The shop is on the 6th floor, you go up the lift and the only entrance is a narrow door. I don’t blame them for not predicting a heist by Japanese spiderman.

  3. They have hundreds of cards locked inside the shop displays, it would be a nightmare to move them back and forth into a safe every single day. Not to mention the likelihood of accidental damage when doing so.

  4. As a business they are covered by insurance, so even though it is still heartbreaking to see them lose their cards, the resources required to build and operate a safe in a shop that is smaller than the inside of the average American fridge would far outweigh the benefits.

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So you’re saying I shouldn’t keep all my valuables and every dollar of cash I have in a non locking glass face cabinet visible from the street? Well there goes my entire collection aesthetic lol