Pokémon playing cards and crime are intimately intertwined at this level, because the collectible playing cards are sometimes wrapped up in robberies and scams as a consequence of their excessive resale worth. A few of the tales surrounding Pokémon card gross sales have reached tragic ends, and the whole subculture of scalping, stealing, and reselling these items of cardboard hangs like a cloud over components of the Pokémon group. However as a fast approach to make cash, the entire scheme is fairly interesting, so interesting, the truth is, {that a} seemingly reformed financial institution robber determined to get in on the grift and scammed folks out of thousands and thousands.
Anthony Curcio, an notorious financial institution robber who pulled off an elaborate armored automotive heist in Washington state in 2008, has spent a lot of the previous decade as an advocate talking to youth about drug habit and crime. However it appears like he’s since made a tough pivot into Pokémon card scamming. Fox 13 Seattle has a narrative on the scenario (thanks, Nintendo Wire), which outlines how Curcio, alongside confederate Iosif Bondarchuk, has been scamming consumers of Pokémon and sports activities playing cards to the tune of $2 million.
The pair has allegedly been promoting falsely graded playing cards to consumers, from native card outlets in Washington to nationwide victims through on-line gross sales. One in every of their alleged fakes, a replica of a 1986 Michael Jordan card, was listed for $171,700, which caught the eye of the cardboard grader firm Skilled Sports activities Authenticator. Curcio and Bondarchuk may withstand 20 years in jail for his or her crimes if discovered responsible.
Neither Curcio and Bondarchuk have been convicted as of but, and Fox 13 Seattle had no luck getting a remark from Curcio after going to his listed tackle. It’s a disgrace that Curcio spent the final decade seemingly getting out of his lifetime of crime simply to seemingly flip proper again into it. That’s some Crew Rocket nonsense, however Curcio may be blasting off once more quickly.
