A trading card shop in Gifu Prefecture just took “help us catch the thief” to a whole new level.
Instead of the usual tip line or vague reward, the store is offering a full 1 million yen (around $6,100) to anyone who captures the robbery suspect alive and brings them in. They’re also putting up 50,000 yen for solid information that helps crack the case.
The break-in happened on the night of July 22. Someone forced their way into the shop and made off with a big chunk of the inventory — mainly high-value Pokémon and One Piece trading cards. Security camera footage was posted online in hopes someone would recognize the culprit, but so far no clear ID.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Japan’s booming trading card market has turned some shops into prime targets. Rare cards keep climbing in value, and thieves have noticed. In one recent case, about 5,000 Pokémon cards worth roughly 10 million yen were stolen from a shop in Niigata. The cash register was left alone — they only wanted the cards. Earlier this year, two people were arrested for stealing around 35 million yen worth of Pokémon cards from a Tokyo store and reselling some of them.
As demand stays high, more stores are tightening security. Some places are already using ID checks and even facial recognition to fight scalping and theft.
For now, though, one Gifu shop owner is going the old-school vigilante-adjacent route: big cash for a live capture. Whether it works or not, it’s definitely got people talking.