Chicago police have issued a warning for Pokémon fans after a series of armed robberies targeting card collectors through meetups arranged on Facebook Marketplace.
Authorities have linked the suspect to at least three separate victims in the Gage Park neighborhood.
Pokémania started in the 1990’s and has seen an incredible resurgence in recent years.
The “Pokémon GO” app revitalized the craze 10 years ago, and a Pokémon exhibit is coming to the Field Museum in May. Earlier this year, the most expensive trading card ever sold: a 1998 Pokémon Pikachu.
“It sold for about 17 million dollars, the highest-traded trading card, beating out Babe Ruth…” said Zach Horwitz.
Horwitz and his brother, Jeremy, own “Running to the Rip,” a card shop in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, where you can buy, sell or trade cards safely.
“What makes them so valuable?” NBC 5’s Natalie Martinez asked.
“The scarcity of them,” Zach Horwitz said. “And then the popularity and demand for them.”
One 18-year-old customer calling himself “Gabe-ee” said he bought cards from RTTW, intending to sell them for his first car.
He explained to NBC Chicago that he and his mother went to meet someone from Facebook Marketplace at an apartment complex in the 5200 block of South Kedzie.
“He said he was in a wheelchair. Once we got there, he wasn’t in a wheelchair,” he recalled. “I went ahead and gave him two of my cards…”
“Gabe-ee” described the suspect as 20 to 30 years old, with glasses, a black mustache and a beard.
“Outta nowhere he pulled down his hoodie, and pulled a gun on me,” the victim recounted. “I went ahead and gave him the cards. Me and my mom backed up.”
“Gabe-ee” said he and his mother called the police when they felt safe.
But he’s now out $1,500 and his cards.
“Pulling a gun over Pokémon cards?” the victim said. “Just insane to me.”
The robbery was one of at least four in the 5200 and 5300 blocks of South Kedzie Avenue from March 17 to 29.
“…Make sure you meet people at a bank or police station, and if they don’t wanna do that, the deal is not right,” Jeremy Horwitz of RTTR said.
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