The Pokémon card market size reaches $15.8 billion! Reports of global theft and scams are on the rise.

The Pokémon card market, which has reached a global scale of as much as $15.8 billion in 2024, not only attracts large inflows of investment capital and infrastructure spending, but also becomes a highly focused target for theft, online scams, and financial regulators. This investment boom driven by nostalgia and sentiment is fundamentally changing the economic rules of the physical collectibles market.

Nostalgia and investment fervor intertwine: Pokémon card market expected to reach $23.5 billion

The collectible card market, led by Pokémon cards, reached $15.8 billion globally in 2024 and is expected to grow to $23.5 billion by 2030. The main buyers come from Millennials and Gen Z. As they gain higher purchasing power and return to this hobby, the prices of rare cards can now rival those of traditional financial assets.

According to reports, in a private transaction, a “Pikachu Illustrator” card sold for more than $16 million, setting a record for the series. Today, collectors are no longer just casually exchanging cards, but actively building investment portfolios, tracking price fluctuations, and treating cards as an inflation-hedging store of value.

Rare high-value Pikachu Illustrator cards have triggered frequent physical thefts and online scams

However, the sharp surge in market liquidity and value has also exposed the fragility of the ecosystem, leading to a significant increase in theft and scam cases across major marketplaces. For example, in Singapore, since the end of 2025, more than 600 scam cases related to Pokémon card trading have been reported, with total losses exceeding $800,000.

Brick-and-mortar retail stores have also become targets for criminals. In a recent theft case in Hong Kong, the perpetrators even gave up cash and specifically targeted unopened rare card packs, showing that these cards have extremely high liquidity value in the eyes of criminals. In addition, while the widespread adoption of online trading platforms expands market reach, it also allows bad actors to carry out scams using fake photos and inaccurate descriptions. Coupled with advances in printing technology, the forgery of cards is becoming increasingly rampant, severely threatening the market’s trust foundation.

(Pokémon card values are skyrocketing, and the UK sees a wave of chain-store smash-and-grab robberies)

Relying on blockchain technology and professional authentication to identify card authenticity

Faced with a highly fragmented market with risks of forgery, the related commercial infrastructure is rapidly evolving to establish more transparent price discovery mechanisms and trust layers. Professional third-party appraisal and rating organizations have become the core of market transactions, providing authenticity verification and packaging ratings for cards, thereby reducing transaction risks for both buyers and sellers.

In Hong Kong, digital asset firms and leading art storage operators have already partnered to launch vaults designed specifically for high-value cards, and combined with blockchain technology for digitized ownership tracking and verification. The trading model for physical collectibles is gradually moving closer to the efficiency and security of traditional financial assets.

This article Pokémon card market scale reaches $15.8 billion! Theft and scam cases are frequent worldwide — first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.