Over 6,450 graded cards were recently stolen from a transport truck leaving PSA, marking one of the largest single thefts in the history of the sports card market. As outlined in PSA’s official theft update, this massive heist underscores a critical vulnerability in the secondary market. If the hobby wants to stop stolen goods from circulating freely, buyer behavior has to change immediately.
As I previously covered in The Hobby’s Theft Crisis: How My Stolen Cards Ended Up in a High-End Repack, stolen slabs seamlessly re-enter the market because buyers and vendors rarely verify certification numbers before transacting. It is time to start checking cert numbers on every slab before completing a purchase. This is the single most effective action collectors can take; when buyers refuse to purchase unverified slabs, vendors are forced to be far more rigorous about vetting their sources.
How to Check if a Card Was Stolen If you are purchasing a graded card on the secondary market, take these exact steps to ensure you are not buying stolen property from the recent heist or other thefts:
- Check the PSA Verification Tool: Enter the card’s certification number directly into the PSA lookup database (psacard.com/cert). PSA has officially deactivated the cert numbers for all 6,451 stolen cards, which will show the card as decertified if searched.
- Cross-Reference the Master List: PSA has published a complete PDF list of every deactivated certification number associated with the truck heist. You can manually check this master document before sending funds to a seller.
- Search TheGTCR.com:The Global Trading Card Registry acts as a centralized database where collectors, dealers, and victims of theft can immediately log stolen items. You can search any PSA, BGS, or CGC certification number or serial number to see if it has been reported. The platform also allows victims to upload high-resolution photos and document the exact circumstances of their loss. The site has already been updated to include all 6,451 stolen PSA cards.
If you believe you have information that could aid the investigation, please contact the FBI or Santa Ana Police Department at +1 714-245-8345.