Japanese police incur wrath of users by using rubber bands on Pokémon cards seized after theft

Yamanashi prefectural police have become the object of harsh criticism on social media after they released footage of valuable Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards they retrieved after a theft was committed in a trading card store. Japanese users took issue with the fact that the cards were shown tied in stacks using rubber bands, risking damage to their surface.

On July 4^th Yamanashi and Saitama prefectural police re-arrested a 25-year-old Japanese man for stealing 430,000 yen (over 3120$) worth of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards from a trading card retailer in Saitama, Japan. The man had previously been arrested and indicted for the theft of Pokémon cards and admitted to committing about ten similar acts because he was in need of money (Source: Kyoto-np).

After the stolen cards were retrieved, they were revealed to the public on the news, with close-ups of premium cards worth over 700$ dollars being shown and images of stacks of trading cards bound with rubber bands appearing as well. Trading card enthusiasts did not miss this detail, and immediately took to social media to voice their complaints, outraged at the callous handling of the precious items.

山梨県警察押収したカード輪ゴムで止めてるのヤバすぎでしょ
跡つくから返還されても価値だだ下がりよ pic.twitter.com/p7LVDkk2Rn
— ななわりのいちごって誰？年収は？恋人は？調べてみました！ (@otatuqed) July 5, 2023

Tweet translation: Yamanashi police binding the cards they seized with rubber bands is so messed up
It’s going to leave marks so even if they get returned, they’re going to be almost worthless

Can the cards really become worthless so easily? Apparently, yes. According to the manager of one of the biggest Pokémon card retailers in Japan, the world of trading cards is a lot stricter than many may think, and the smallest of scratches can decrease a card’s value dramatically.

晴れる屋2・渡辺翔店長「一般の人が見ていても、どこが傷なんだろうというものも傷として扱われる世界。輪ゴムの跡などが付いたら大きな傷と判断されてもおかしくない。このカードの左上に見える白い部分。これでも傷と扱われる世界。元は2800円の商品ですが、少し傷があるだけで2000円くらいに減額」 https://t.co/kHZQKtyBNT pic.twitter.com/PmyRrbW71Q
— ???????? (@Kleza_108) July 13, 2023

Tweet translation: Sho Watanabe, manager of Hareruya2, said that “in the world of trading cards, even things that an ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to find on a card are treated as damage. Rubber band marks, for example, could be considered major damage. The white bit on the top left corner of this card – even this is treated as damage. This card would have originally been worth 2800 yen, but with just this little scratch the value goes down to 2000 yen.”

In a statement for The Sankei News, a representative of Yamanashi prefectural police explained that as the cards were evidence of a crime, they had to be kept together, which is why they had bound them with the rubber bands. They also added that the rubber bands were only used while the cards were being displayed to the public and that they were otherwise kept in bags. Another important detail is that the cards put in the bound stacks were only lower-value cards, so the affected retailers themselves actually had no complaints about the matter.

この輪ゴムに縛られた画像だけが拡散されてるけど、実際には隣にガラスケースがドカンと置かれてて、高そうなのはそこに入ってるんだよな pic.twitter.com/AJjbTPk989
— musuka (@musukamusuka1) July 12, 2023

Tweet translation: Only the image that shows the rubber band-bound stacks has been circulating but there’s actually a glass case right there in which the expensive looking cards seem to be kept.