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Pokémon and other collector cards being used as currency by criminals: Edmonton police

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When you think of collectible cards like Pokémon or Magic the Gathering, most wouldn’t think of currency, but Edmonton police say criminals are using it that way.

In a news release sent out at the beginning of July, EPS said it did a search in two houses in April and found more than $400,000 in illegal drugs and also nearly 60,000 Pokémon, sports and other collectible cards, worth $34,000.

It’s not surprising to Jay Bardyla, who co-owns Rolling Tales Pop Culture in Edmonton. The store was victim to a robbery in December, and Bardyla said the thief stole only collectible cards.

He said the criminals likely sell the cards quickly online. If you hold on to them for too long, they could lose value because of a fluctuating market.

“You have a lot of opportunity for cards to be sold on a secondary market, mostly online, which makes it very easy to move product and the cards are untraceable.”

Criminologist Dan Jones said using collectible cards as a currency for organized crime is crafty.

“You can store them, you’re not putting them in the bank … I would assume these individuals hope police aren’t catching on to this. So when they do search warrants, they’re not looking for Pokémon cards,” Jones said.

Sarah Komadina has more.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/9813622/pokemon-cards-currency-crime-edmonton-police/

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Category
U.S. & Canada
Tags
global news, crime, collectible cards
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