One Tulsa, Oklahoma man has learned, “You can’t catch them all” when it comes to selling off fake counterfeit Pokémon cards for thousands of dollars.
The Tulsa Police Department said in a release on Facebook, “We began investigating the “Pokémon Card Bust” months ago. Authorities had received complaints from five buyers in Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and Ohio, who told police they bought thousands of dollars worth of “rare and high value Pokémon cards” from a man in Tulsa, only to receive fakes.”
“We discovered the suspect to be a man named Michael McCoy. The TPD and the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office, who specializes in intellectual property and trademark infringement, partnered with Nintendo Corporation, and one of its employees. They determined that the Pokémon cards were in fact counterfeit,” the statement continued.
“The cards that were sold by the suspect had little to no value on their own, however were being sold as ‘rare collectors cards’ for $350 per card,” TPD added.
Authorities arrested McCoy on Tuesday at a post office. Police said they found him in the process of mailing more counterfeit cards to another potential victim.
One of the buyers, Riley Bennett said, “That at first glance I was sure the cards were real. Everything looked absolutely flawless, like really good to me.”
Bennett said that McCoy even sent footage that showed him packaging and sending the cards. Bennett said he Pais $3,000 within a week for the cards.
However, once Bennett received the cards, he instantly knew something was wrong.
“It was like instant that I knew. I was like, ‘These are terrible quality, these are totally fraudulent’,” Bennett said.
TPD’s Financial Crimes Lieutenant Andrew Weeden said Bennett filed a police report in Tulsa since that’s where the cards were from. TPD then started to get similar complaints, and Bennett helped them find the suspect through a sting operation.
“I started messaging him and acting like I was a potential buyer,” Weeden said.
McCoy was later caught when he tried to mail the fraudulent cards at a Tulsa post office, police say. Weeden said McCoy made up to $12,000 in his alleged scam.
McCoy, who had outstanding arrest warrants in Arkansas, has been charged with obtaining merchandise by false pretense over $1,000 x 5 and violation of trademark anti-counterfeiting act.
His bond for the false pretense charge was set at $4,000, per his booking record. He is being held without bond for the Arkansas warrants.
