Collector Recon · Newsletter No. 009 · covers October 23–25, 2026

PSA publishes the full list of 6,451 items stolen from the FedEx truck, deactivates every cert and brings in the FBI

PSA has put a count and a list on the October 13 theft. In an update dated October 23, "Stolen PSA Orders: What We're Doing and How You Can Help," the grader says customer orders were taken from a FedEx carrier truck after pickup at its Santa Ana, California facility, that 6,451 items were on board, and that it has published the complete list with every certification number and the serial numbers of serialized cards. Every cert on the list has been deactivated. The list has gone to marketplace sellers, auction houses and digital commerce platforms, which PSA says are monitoring for the items, and to the Santa Ana Police Department and the FBI, along with video footage, shipment manifests and item-level records. PSA says it is in daily contact with investigators.

The count settles a figure that had moved for ten days. Santa Ana police put the loss at $963,000 on October 19, "the estimated value at the time," with the exact figure to wait on a scan of the remaining boxes; police described two pallets taken and a third disrupted, per CBS Los Angeles. On October 22 Chase Society read a 382-card partner list and found no Pokémon on it. PSA's own list runs 93 pages, and Pokémon is on it. Dexerto (October 24) carries the police estimate as "almost $1 million" and counts more than 200 packages taken from the truck parked outside PSA's headquarters.

What is on the list

Collectibles News read the PDF on October 24. The Pokémon entries include a Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo, a 2016 Charizard EX Red & Blue Collection promo, a Rayquaza V from Evolving Skies, a Gengar VMAX from Fusion Strike and numerous Japanese releases. Yu-Gi-Oh! appears through a first-edition Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the 2002 Starter Deck: Kaiba, and One Piece cards are listed too. The sports side runs from Shohei Ohtani, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Patrick Mahomes II and Victor Wembanyama to one-of-ones: a Stephen Curry autograph Gold 1/1, several Roman Reigns 1/1s and a Mike Tyson Platinum 1/1. The list is sorted by cert number, so there are no category counts; the Pokémon share of the 6,451 is not stated.

What PSA pays, and on what basis

PSA has refunded all grading fees on affected orders, separate from compensation for the items. Orders that shipped on PSA's return label are covered by PSA's insurance, and the update says those payments are already going out; customers who used their own return label work with a dedicated team; dealer submissions go through the dealer. Compensation is the fair market value of each item, up to its declared Maximum Insured Value, set from comparable sales, realized auction prices, grades, population reports and other market data; for rare items with few recent sales PSA reviews a broader range of historical comps and market trends. An owner whose item is later recovered may keep the payment or take the item back. PSA adds that it has safely processed and return-shipped more than 99.9% of the items entrusted to it over the past year.

The cap is the number that decides each claim. Kotaku (October 19) reported one affected submitter, the YouTuber Sky-B, who valued his order at $100,000, had insured it for up to $156,000 and paid $8,000 in grading fees; PSA told him it would pay market value capped at the insurance limit he selected for each item. Our No. 007 Field Note made the same point: on a PSA submission, the declared value is the ceiling on the payout.

Why 6,451 dead certs matter to every buyer

A PSA cert number is the slab's title. Once deactivated, PSA's cert lookup no longer verifies it, and every marketplace holding the list can match a listing against it. The practical effect for buyers is a new step before the price: any PSA slab offered from here on can be checked against the list, and a listed cert is void whatever card sits inside the holder. For sellers of the same cards the list changes little: the named Pokémon cards all trade in volume and none is a one-of-one. The one-of-ones on the list are sports cards, and their certs are now the only copies that cannot be sold.

The open figure is the total. Police said $963,000 before the remaining boxes were scanned, PSA has not published a dollar value for the 6,451 items, and the Maximum Insured Values that cap the payouts are the submitters' own declarations. The loss PSA pays and the loss the market books will differ.

What to watch next

Recoveries: PSA says an owner can keep the payment or take the item back, so any recovered lot comes with a choice, and the list is the public record to check a slab against.
Tips go to the FBI's Los Angeles office (+1 310-477-6565, press 1, 8 AM to 5 PM); nothing has been reported recovered and no arrests have been reported, per CBS Los Angeles.
Marketplace enforcement: PSA says sellers, auction houses and digital platforms are monitoring for listed certs.

Figures are as reported by the sources below on the dates shown. This is market data and commentary, not investment advice.

Sources

← BACK TO THE NEWSLETTER

GET THE NEXT ISSUE The biggest graded sales, auctions and news in TCG, video games and anime art, every figure sourced and dated. Free, Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. SUBSCRIBE AT COLLECTORRECON.XYZ →