If you’re a fan of Pokémon or card-collecting, you may relate to the thrill of owning rare cards or first-edition cards. However, for one YouTuber, the quest to ‘catching em all’ turned out sour.
Chris Camillo, who runs a YouTube channel Dumb Money was proud to unbox his haul of rare Pokémon cards. Hoping to invest $375,000 (Rs 2,80,01,250 INR), he did a live unboxing of the treasure trove on his channel. It didn’t take much time for him to realise they were fakes!
The massive deal of ‘social arbitrage investor’ (as Camillo calls himself) believed he was purchasing the first edition of some very rare Pokémon cards. He had set-up the stage, his money neatly piled in $100 notes sat in a silver briefcase (as proof of the money he would pay).
He had been on the market lookout for such cards to surface for a long time. They were originally launched in the late 1990s and Camillo believed they would be “a wise long-term investment.” He isn’t the only one willing to shell out thousands of dollars for these cards. Well-known rapper, Logic, recently purchased a single 1999 pristine Charizard card for a whopping $226,000 (Rs 1,68,69,205 INR) according to Metro.uk.
Camillo’s potential purchase was a 36 ‘booster packs’ of cards, in a total of 396 individual cards. The sale was made through an unnamed third party who wanted to be paid in cash. Lucky for Camillo (or a smart move from him), the payment wouldn’t be done until the box of treasures was opened. As soon as the box was unsealed, people on the livestream as well as those in the video started to notice some discrepancies.
Jake Greenbaum, who goes on Twitter by JBTheCryptoKing, was the mediator in the deal. He is a celebrity Pokémon card consultant, included YouTuber Logan Paul. The two noticed that instead of the very rare cards they expected, the box was full of common cards – either damaged or useless even in good condition.
The colours gave them away, as some viewers also pointed out. The box also appeared to be resealed. Greenbaum got on the phone immediately and said there’s a big issue, using curses and abuses. Some viewers wondered if it was all a publicity stunt but a report The Guardian said there were no signs suggesting to a PR plot. Experts said such things do happen in the collector world.
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