Pokémon Card Scammer Handed Three Years In Prison

Even since lockdown kicked in at the start of 2020, Pokémon Cards have become a very lucrative business. Arguably they were before - but being trapped at home for so many days at a time really had us looking back at these nostalgia-dipped pieces of paper... And wondering what they're worth.

We've heard quite a few devastating stories over the last few months. There was the person who put their shiny Charizard card through the wash (yikes). Then there was the two thieves, who stole around quarter of a million dollars worth of booster packs from a family run store (shites).

While there are rumours that it was all faked for content, Logan Paul claims he spent $3.5million on a crate of first-generation sealed boosters only for them to turn out to be G.I Joe cards (psyche). Ebay has since tried to crack down on fakes being sold on the online auction site.

If you want to see the GAMINGbible boys pulling Pokémon cards from the latest booster packs then look no further...

Back in October 2021, we wrote about Vinath Oudomsine of Georgia, USA, who received a loan of $85,000 dollars from federal funds to save his business. The money in the fund had been set aside by the government to support small companies struggling during the pandemic.

However, instead of helping out his employees and keeping work flowing, he decided to spend almost $58,000 of the money on a single Charizard card. Which, to his credit, had a 9.5 rating.

Now, as spotted by Polygon, his sentence has been passed down. Oudomsine will spend 36 months in prison - though this can be reduced for good behaviour - for the misuse of government funds. Following his term he must then serve three years of probation, called "supervised release". 

Naturally, there will also be financial repercussions for his actions. Aside from being forced to pay back the $85,000 loan, he will have to pay a further penalty of $10,000. Not only this, but he's also agreed to hand over the Charizard card which started it all. Turns out crime doesn't pay when it comes to Pokémon.