{"id":922408,"date":"2026-10-10T00:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922408\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T00:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T00:02:14","slug":"game-shop-owners-ramp-up-security-due-to-rise-in-pokemon-card-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/922408\/","title":{"rendered":"Game shop owners ramp up security due to rise in Pok\u00e9mon card thefts"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Benjamin Hill went to his collectables store one day, he was shocked to find the ceiling smashed through and almost $20,000 worth of Pok\u00e9mon and other trading cards gone.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty confronting to be honest \u2026 I was aware this could happen, but you never think it would be you,” the shop owner said.<\/p>\n

“I was shaking a little bit as well; it took me a few days to get over it.”<\/p>\n

Mr Hill said the alleged thief had sneaked through the back toilet door and crawled through the ceiling at his Blair Athol shop in early September.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Benjamin Hill’s trading card store was allegedly broken into last month. (ABC News: Sharne Wakefield)<\/p>\n

He said Pok\u00e9mon trading cards could have been the target, as they generally cost between 50 cents and $50 but some rare cards were being auctioned for millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

Mr Hill said these trading cards were high in value, untraceable and easy to resell.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a little bit of cardboard that can fit in your pocket. You could have $1,000 in your pocket,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Pokemon trading cards have been the target of thieves because some are of high value. (ABC News: Sharne Wakefield)<\/p>\n

SA Police told ABC News a 47-year-old man was this week arrested and charged with serious criminal trespassing, theft and property damage over the alleged break-in at Mr Hill’s store.<\/p>\n

Mr Hill said he had since upgraded his security and taken all expensive items off site.<\/p>\n

Thefts on the rise<\/p>\n

In recent months, tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of trading cards were stolen<\/a> from collectables shops in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

SA Police arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly smashed a glass cabinet at a Noarlunga toy store and stole Pok\u00e9mon cards last month.<\/p>\n

ABC News spoke to several Adelaide shop owners, including one who was spending about $20,000, to bolster security measures such as installing bollards, fog alarms, roller shutters and new CCTV.<\/p>\n

\"Empty<\/p>\n

Trading cards were allegedly stolen from Benjamin Hill’s store. (Supplied: Benjamin Hill)<\/p>\n

Card shop owner Hung Nguyen is one of those taking extra precautions.<\/p>\n

“What’s happening around Melbourne and Queensland, it’s just made us think twice about looking into our security a bit more,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I guess there’s nothing stopping us from comparing ourselves to a jewellery shop.”<\/p>\n

\"bollards<\/p>\n

Hung Nguyen has installed bollards and security alarm at his store. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)<\/p>\n

Lucrative market<\/p>\n

The Japanese game is 30 years old but Pok\u00e9mon trading cards have seen a global resurgence in recent years, prompting its government to consider a clampdown on the industry.<\/p>\n

Due to a lack of supply, high demand and influx of investors, Pok\u00e9mon cards are soaring in price, with an American YouTuber selling an ultra-rare card for a record $22.6 million this year.<\/p>\n

Recently, these Japanese cards have been outperforming Bitcoin and the S&P 500 on the stock market.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Hung Nguyen says he has increased security at his game store. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)<\/p>\n

“Like a box that was worth $100 to $200 is now worth $8,000,” Mr Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

The trader said most of these cards were being resold for more than double their retail price.<\/p>\n

“You could say the return on investment is 100 per cent, which is crazy,” Mr Nguyen said.<\/p>\n

“So for them, it’s, ‘Why wouldn’t I get into it and make a quick flip?'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Benjamin Hill went to his collectables store one day, he was shocked to find the ceiling smashed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,490081,182368,99,88158,490082,346,1158,490079,4206,58040,219609,490080],"class_list":["post-922408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-benjamin-hill","tag-break-in","tag-business","tag-collectibles","tag-hung-nguyen","tag-pokemon","tag-police","tag-resell","tag-security","tag-theft","tag-trading-card","tag-trading-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}