Chris Camillo, a host of the popular YouTube channel "Dumb Money," may have dodged disaster after nearly dropping $375,000 on a box of what turned out to be fake first-gen Pokémon cards. The cards, originally purchased by Logan Paul's cryptocurrency speculator Jake “JBTheCryptoKing” Greenbaum from an unidentified seller, were determined to be fakes almost immediately before they fell into Camillo's hands, thanks to their obvious quality defects. The doomed deal serves as a stark reminder of the risks of the Pokémon card game market, which has risen significantly in the months following the COVID outbreak.
With the pandemic disrupting daily life, Pokémon cards have seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to bored millennials dusting off their old card binders to sell and trade their long-forgotten wares. The market value of the cards, which had been appreciating since the '90s, rose dramatically thanks to renewed interest in the hobby. Rare Pokémon across platforms have skyrocketed in value on eBay as collectors are eager to snap up rare Shinies and Legendaries. It was helped along even further by a few high profile celebrity purchasers, including Paul and rapper Logic, who dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars for rare cards. This in turn piqued the interest of buyers like Camillo, who, like many other high profile individuals, are recognizing an investment opportunity.
Camillo and the other hosts of "Dumb Money" made the decision to buy a box with 36 packs of allegedly first gen cards valued at $375,000 from Greenbaum. According to The Guardian, the plan was to purchase the cards, open them to verify their contents, and then sell the cards next year at an investor party in Las Vegas, where all profits and proceeds would be donated to charity. Greenbaum and his associates had purchased the box containing the 36 packs of 11 cards apiece, which offered reasonable odds for finding Shiny or Legendary cards. However, Camillo wanted to verify the cards himself before the $375,000 in cash, as requested by Greenbaum, would be paid. This proved to be the condition that saved Camillo—almost immediately upon opening the box, it became instantly clear that several of the packs were already opened or were clearly not first edition. The cards inside the open packs were damaged or common enough to be worth less than the foil they were wrapped in, as seen in a video posted by Greenbaum.
Camillo and his cohosts may have walked away with their money and their reputations, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Greenbaum. He contacted the seller who'd sold him the bogus cards to seek a refund, but there's no word yet as to whether he was successful. Greenbaum, for his part, is determined to get Camillo the promised cards, while lamenting the consequences of the deal gone wrong: “The amount of clout and respect I’m going to take a hit for selling a box that turns out to be fake, it’s going to be massive."
The value of these booster packs is already high thanks to their rarity—there's estimated to be fewer than 70 unopened first-gen packs left in circulation. But the real return on investment comes from the potential to find rare Legendary cards in the pack, which cannot be verified until the pack is opened. The Charizard card purchased by Logic earlier this month cost the rapper a whopping $220,000. While Camillo was likely not expecting to recoup that same price for a single card, there were likely at least a few rare cards among the 396 he had purchased that would recoup the value of the packs and then some. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.
Source: The Guardian, Jake Greenbaum