Pokémon cards are so valuable that criminals are using them to launder dirty money, Japanese media reports
It’s no secret that certain rare Pokémon cards are commanding increasingly high prices at auction. However, in recent years, it’s not only collectors that are on the hunt for powerful, foil-embossed Pokémon-ex cards and rare pulls. Rather, some Pokémon cards have become so valuable that they are being used as a tool for criminals to launder money.
As reported in Shunkan Gendai online, criminals, including bank scammers, have been turning their dirty money into Pokémon cards. According to an explanation from a former head of a crime syndicate quoted in the article, the cards’ small size makes them easy to hide and gives criminals an easy way to transport their stolen money abroad. They can then resell the cards, converting their profits into local currency.
But with only 5 cards in a pack and slim chances of pulling valuable variants, how are criminals tracking down these rare Pokémon cards in the first place? Sought-after Pokémon-ex cards are embossed with foil- they have metal in them and are ever so slightly heavier than your standard Pokémon card. Undercover reporting by Shunkan Gendai revealed that some criminals use ingenious methods like metal detectors and highly sensitive weighing devices to determine if an unopened pack contains a rare foil card. In this way, resellers with boxes and boxes of unopened Pokémon cards can hunt down rare cards. They then open up the packs containing valuable cards to sell them individually at high prices. The unopened packs can then be resold as-is.
It seems that there are various large-scale money laundering schemes going on using Pokémon cards, which are resold on platforms including popular Japanese online auction sites.
