{"id":41609,"date":"2024-12-17T19:06:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T10:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=41609"},"modified":"2024-12-17T19:06:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T10:06:57","slug":"pokemon-cards-are-so-valuable-that-criminals-are-using-them-to-launder-dirty-money-japanese-media-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/nongaming-news\/pokemon-cards-are-so-valuable-that-criminals-are-using-them-to-launder-dirty-money-japanese-media-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon cards are so valuable that criminals are using them to launder dirty money, Japanese media reports\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that certain rare Pok\u00e9mon cards are commanding increasingly high prices at auction. However, in recent years, it\u2019s not only collectors that are on the hunt for powerful, foil-embossed Pok\u00e9mon-ex cards and rare pulls. Rather, some Pok\u00e9mon cards have become so valuable that they are being used as a tool for criminals to launder money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/gendai.media\/articles\/-\/140585\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shunkan Gendai online,<\/a> criminals, including bank scammers, have been turning their dirty money into Pok\u00e9mon cards. According to an explanation from a former head of a crime syndicate quoted in the article, the cards\u2019 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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But with only 5 cards in a pack and slim chances of pulling valuable variants, how are criminals tracking down these rare Pok\u00e9mon cards in the first place? Sought-after Pok\u00e9mon-ex cards are embossed with foil- they have metal in them and are ever so slightly heavier than your standard Pok\u00e9mon 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 Pok\u00e9mon 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. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems that there are various large-scale money laundering schemes going on using Pok\u00e9mon cards, which are resold on platforms including popular Japanese online auction sites.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Criminals are using ingenious methods to find Pok\u00e9mon card packs containing rares and then reselling them to launder money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":41613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[17,70],"class_list":["post-41609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-pokemon-series"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pok\u00e9mon cards are so valuable that criminals are using them to launder dirty money, Japanese media reports\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Criminals are using ingenious methods to find Pok\u00e9mon card packs containing rares and then reselling them to launder money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/nongaming-news\/pokemon-cards-are-so-valuable-that-criminals-are-using-them-to-launder-dirty-money-japanese-media-reports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pok\u00e9mon cards are so valuable that criminals are using them to launder dirty money, Japanese media reports\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Criminals are using ingenious methods to find Pok\u00e9mon card packs containing rares and then reselling them to launder money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/nongaming-news\/pokemon-cards-are-so-valuable-that-criminals-are-using-them-to-launder-dirty-money-japanese-media-reports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T10:06:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T10:06:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20241217-41609-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"449\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Verity Townsend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pok\u00e9mon cards are so valuable that criminals are using them to launder dirty money, Japanese media reports\u00a0 - 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