Santa Ana police are investigating the theft of trading cards valued at an estimated $963,000 from a FedEx $FDX truck, with officers called to Professional Sports Authenticator on Oct. 13, according to CBS News.
Police said thieves made off with two pallets and disrupted a third. The pallets carried a variety of cards, among them Pokémon and sports titles. The report came from the 1600 block of East St. Andrew Place in Santa Ana, a city roughly 33 miles southeast of Los Angeles, according to NBC News.
Police said a precise figure would not be available until the rest of the boxes had been scanned, according to CBS News. Santa Ana police spokesperson Natalie Garcia told NBC News the value could rise.
"It remains an open case," Garcia said, "and we have not made any arrests or recovered any stolen goods."
Professional Sports Authenticator, known as PSA, verifies and assigns condition grades to collectibles and trading cards. The company is cooperating with investigators, it said, and has deactivated the certificates tied to the stolen items. It also warned marketplace partners to keep an eye out for rare or serialized pieces, according to CBS News. The company's customer service team has reached out to impacted customers and is preparing payouts pegged to what the cards would fetch on the open market, according to CBS News.
A PSA spokesperson said customers would get their grading fees back in addition to reimbursement for what the cards were worth on the market, according to NBC News.
FedEx said in a statement that keeping customers' packages secure is its highest priority and that it is cooperating with local law enforcement.
Nick Andrews, whose social media persona is the Boston Card Hunter, wrote on X $TWTR that multiple people were victims of the theft, according to NBC News. He said one victim had cards worth $500,000 stolen and that the heist might rank among the largest the hobby has ever seen. His running tally of items reportedly taken had climbed to as many as 383 entries, according to NBC News.
Card trader Sky-B, who asked that only that alias be used for him, said 104 of his cards went missing, according to NBC News. He said he collected them over two years. They had cleared certification at PSA and were en route to him in Michigan when he found out about the theft. He said he spent $8,000 on grading and that the cards carried insurance of up to $156,000, which fell short of what they would likely sell for.
"There were cards in that order that you can't replace," Sky-B told CBS News. He described the cards as case hits or one-of-one cards.
Sky-B said some people have received compensation offers from PSA that he called "insultingly low," according to CBS News. He said he planned to sell about half of the cards and keep the rest in his collection.