Thieves Swipe Nearly $1M in Rare Trading Cards from FedEx Truck in California

POLICY WIRE — Santa Ana, USA — Law enforcement officials are investigating the theft of nearly $1 million worth of sports and Pokémon trading cards that were stolen from a FedEx vehicle in Southern California last week.

Santa Ana Police spokesperson Natalie Garcia confirmed that officers were called to the Professional Sports Authenticator facility on Tuesday. The heist involved two full pallets of cards and a third that had been tampered with, resulting in an estimated loss of $963,000.

Located roughly 33 miles southeast of Los Angeles, Professional Sports Authenticator serves as a major hub for grading and authenticating collectibles. The company offers services to help owners sell their items online by converting cards into currency.

Social media personality Nick Andrews, known as the Boston Card Hunter, suggested this incident could rank among the largest heists in the history of the hobby. He noted that there are multiple victims, including one individual who reportedly lost $500,000 in inventory.

Andrews has compiled a list of approximately 383 items believed to be missing, including a 1995 Upper Deck 23K Gold Michael Jordan card and a 2024 One Piece Simplified Chinese 1st Anniversary Set Nami. A collector identified as Sky-B also shared his experience on YouTube, stating he lost 104 cards he had spent two years collecting.

Sky-B noted that his collection was insured for $156,000, which he believes is significantly lower than the actual market value of the items. He had paid $8,000 in grading fees to the company before the shipment was intercepted while in transit to Michigan.

A spokesperson for Professional Sports Authenticator stated that the firm is cooperating with police and has deactivated the certificates for all stolen items to alert marketplace partners. The company also confirmed it would refund grading fees and reimburse owners for the fair market value of their lost cards.

FedEx issued a statement emphasizing that the security of customer shipments remains a top priority and that they are assisting local authorities with the ongoing investigation. Garcia confirmed that the case remains open, with no arrests made and no property recovered as of Monday.

This incident follows a 2024 case in Ohio where a hotel employee stole $2.1 million in vintage baseball cards from a FedEx delivery. That individual was later sentenced to four to six years in prison.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)