FBI Warns Card Shops of Stolen-Card Pokémon Fraud in New Jersey
The FBI has warned card shops that thieves are using stolen credit cards to buy high-value Pokémon cards, and shops should disable manual card entry or ask for photo ID when it is used. Seven New Jersey stores were reportedly hit between September 2025 and March 2026, and some lost tens of thousands of dollars in stock. The FBI's Newark field office described the typical scheme: a customer tries to pay by tapping a phone on the reader, the payment fails, and the customer asks the cashier to type in a card number by hand. That number belongs to a stolen or compromised card. Stores often learn of the fraud only after weeks, giving the thieves time to resell the cards.
Kelly Blanchfield of the FBI told News 12 New Jersey that the thieves are using fraudulent credit cards to accomplish the thefts. According to NJ.com, a criminal network is also using a phone app that stores multiple stolen card numbers and cycles through them at the reader until one is approved. The FBI is now investigating the app.
Other thefts have hit the hobby as well. The Big Pack Hobby Shop in Rochelle Park lost between $40,000 and $50,000 in Pokémon cards in a smash-and-grab in June. Vendors have also been robbed outside card shows, including a father and son who lost $150,000 in Pokémon cards and $12,000 in cash in a hotel parking lot in Woodbridge.
Beyond disabling manual card entry or asking for photo ID, the FBI urges shops to keep display cases locked and to install cameras and panic buttons. No arrests have been reported so far.
A brief is the essentials in a few lines, with the source. Find every brief of the day in the daily recap. Briefs for October 31, 2026 →
Written with the help of AI from the sources listed below, then checked automatically for accuracy and originality under TCGKing's editorial responsibility. Methodology →
TCGKing never reproduces source text. Every fact links to its origin.