It was once bank robberies and jewellery heists that made the headlines, but now thieves are targeting a new unexpected commodity – trading cards and collectibles.
It has left store owners with no option but to beef up security, with some spending $30,000 on new camera surveillance systems.
“It kind of breaks my heart,” said Cai Scaife from Irresistible Force, a hobby supplies store south of Brisbane that has been targeted multiple times.
“I have a community here that I feel like was built on trust, and everyone respects each other,” he said.
“To see that people are willing to come in and attack a community-built space, it just brings the entire mood and atmosphere down, like I have to start suspecting everyone even though I shouldn’t.”
His store has a special focus on tabletop wargames like Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer where players paint their figurines and then play against each other.
In a recent theft that was captured on CCTV, two men made off with about $5000 worth of Warhammer products.
Two earlier break-ins cost the store close to $50,000, with rare trading cards the focus.
“It’s coming to a point where businesses don’t have enough protection anymore, and you’re finding that some of them have to shut down just because the amount of stock lost is not enough to recuperate,” he said.
More than a dozen stores have been impacted by thefts across south-east Queensland in the past month, with the latest attempt early this morning at Sovereign Cards, North Lakes.
CCTV posted by the store owner shows five masked men wielding sledgehammers trying to smash their way into the store but prevented by steel bars.
The would-be thieves even smashed up a car out the front, with a security guard sitting inside who later followed the assailants whilst on the phone to Queensland Police.
Store owner Logan is offering a cash reward of $2000 for information that leads to an arrest.
A rising value in rare Pokemon cards has been driving the crime wave, but any valuable trading card can be stolen.
Blake Russo owns Doghouse Collectibles in Underwood and recently used a baseball bat to scare off three men, one of whom refused to remove a mask covering his face.
“Two of them tried to leave pretty quick,” he said.
“One of them was a little bit more stubborn, but I sort of gave him a little bit more encouragement, and he left not long after that.”
Russo’s most expensive items are Pokemon cards, selling for $7000 a piece which are now too lucrative to be left on-site.
“Everyone’s beefing up their security, we’re all working together,” he said, explaining he’s now spent around $30,000 on security cameras and other deterrents.
A Queensland Police media spokesperson said detectives are still investigating several incidents and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
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