Reddit is full of crazy stories, and the Pokémon community has been following one quite closely after a collector said his friend, a prank YouTuber, stole and burned many of his valuable cards.
A Pokémon collector posted on the “Today I Fucked Up” subreddit, where he said around $8,000 worth of the cards he has been collecting eight years were burned by his friend.
After hanging out together one night, the Pokémon collector noticed his cards were missing a few days later. When he asked his friend what happened, he didn’t get a straight answer. But then he saw the aftermath on YouTube.
“[The video] was of him and his friend taking my Pokémon cards… They then had 15,000 fake cards made with only the backs on them and a white front. Then they burned the rest. I understand what he meant by maybe Charizard got them. I can’t believe he’s done this to me,” the collector wrote.
The YouTuber claimed it was an accident and he had meant to burn the fake ones. This wasn’t believable to the collector since his real ones were in special tins.
“I’m completely broken,” the collector said. “Those Pokémon cards were a second part to me. I sent him a huge message and he replied that it was a prank and to relax. He destroyed $8,000 worth of cards. I’m just so broken, everyone.”
After seeing his collection go up in flames, the collector posted about the incident on social media, which prompted many of his friends to to harass the YouTuber until he took the video down. Others told him to go to the authorities.
On Reddit, others expressed that he should go to the authorities as well, saying that he had thousands of dollars in property stolen and destroyed, including a card that had sentimental value to him. So many people urged him to do so, in fact, that the Pokémon collector ultimately ended up deciding to see what could be done legally about his destroyed collection, which could be worth up to $20,000.
“I decide I’m going to the authorities with my evidence tomorrow. I’m not the guy to do this but thank you guys for the strength. I’m never gonna get my cards back but I don’t want him doing this to others. I will update you guys,” the collector said.
The Reddit post currently has over 15.1K upvotes and 1.6K comments. After six days up on Reddit, the Pokémon fan decided to provide an update.
In the since-deleted Reddit thread, the Pokémon card collector said that he actually decided to press charges against his former friend and is aiming for court. The police have since opened an investigation.