While “Pokemon Trading Card” is gaining popularity around the world and is traded at high prices, fraud surrounding it is also rampant in Japan.

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Japanese media, including FNN Prime and Kansai TV, reported on the 9th that Kazuya Chishima, a 23-year-old habitual fraudster, was arrested. After deceiving him that he would sell expensive cards, he committed more than 30 frauds by sending cheap cards of the same character.
In December 2021, he posted a false article on social networking services (SNS) that he would sell Pokemon cards with a market price of 600,000 yen at a low price. Later, he asked a 30-year-old man who expressed his intention to buy it to deposit 100,000 yen into his account. The victim received the goods after transferring money, but what he actually held was another Pokemon card that cost only hundreds of yen.
The victim said on Kansai TV, “I sent a message right after receiving the card, but there was no reply at all,” adding, “Then I confirmed that the other person’s account was deleted.”
Chishima was caught by police last month after repeatedly committing more than 30 crimes until recently. “I did it because I needed money,” he said, pleading guilty.Pokemon cards

(Source from Reuters/Alamy)
Logan Paul, a famous U.S. YouTuber, is opening a box of Pokemon cards purchased for a large amount of money. Logan Paul YouTube Capture
Earlier, Logan Paul, a famous U.S. YouTuber with 23 million subscribers, was also swindled in January this year after spending $3.5 million to purchase a Pokemon card.
Pokemon cards are not familiar in Korea, but they are already so popular that an international competition called the Pokemon World Championship (PWC) has been held since 2004. In particular, the first unopened box, which was released in 1999, is traded at around 380,000 dollars, and it is known that the price is very high due to some cards such as Li Jamon Card.

JULIE KIM

ASIA JOURNAL