A child lost one of his most prized Pokémon cards to a fraudulent trade at the Pokémon XP card scam event in San Francisco on 29 August, and within hours a thread of collectors had offered to replace it.
Eric Bahn, a venture capitalist, posted about the incident on X on 30 August. ‘Lost his most valuable cards in a fraudulent trade by some guy in a booth,’ he wrote. ‘Very tough lesson for him. Sucks to see an adult take advantage of a child.’
According to Collider, the incident occurred at approximately 10:45 am on the second floor of Moscone South, near Booth 87. The card taken in the trade was a PSA 9 Rayquaza VMAX #218 from Evolving Skies, a rare and exceptionally valuable card that Bahn said his son had spent many years of trading to work up towards.
Collectors Step In After the Pokémon XP Card Scam
The response in Bahn’s replies was quick. Deep Pocket Monster, a YouTuber whose channel name plays on the Japanese translation of Pokémon (pocket monsters), replied that he would ‘reach out via DM’ and said he’d love to help. Bahn’s son had met Deep Pocket Monster just hours before the scam took place, and Bahn later posted a separate message thanking him directly: ‘On a happier note, thank you @DeepPocketMnstr for being so kind and generous to my son and friend today.’
Sonoroman, whose profile lists him as Pokémon’s ‘Premier Event Manager for Latin America and Oceania’, also saw the thread and offered to hand over the card if he could locate it in his collection. He added that, should Bahn’s son return to the convention, he would have a surprise waiting for him. A US Army veteran made a similar offer in the same thread.
Bahn thanked everyone who had reached out, saying the response helped his son learn a second lesson: that there are far more good people in the world than bad people. Collider also reported that the boy had a message of his own for the person who took advantage of him: ‘Please stop hurting children.’
What the Card Was Worth, and What Replacing It Might Cost
It remains unclear whether the card was ultimately replaced. What is clear is that the generosity on offer was not trivial. As the story, first reported by Dexerto, noted, the Pokémon XP card scam involved a card that may represent a 4 or even 5-figure sum at current market values. Collectible card prices have climbed sharply as inflation has driven up asset prices over the past two decades, and as the original launch of Pokémon Trading Cards in 1997 recedes further into history, certain cards have attracted valuations that surprise people outside the hobby.
The PSA 9 Rayquaza VMAX #218 from Evolving Skies sits at the upper end of that market. For any of the collectors in that thread to part with one would be a substantial act, not a token gesture.
What stands out here is not just the generosity but the speed of it. Within a day of the post going up, multiple people with access to rare cards and the knowledge to find them had made genuine, specific offers. None of them asked for anything in return. That, alongside a child’s own clear-headed request for the person who wronged him to stop, is where this story actually lands.
Bahn has not confirmed publicly whether the Rayquaza card has been returned to his son’s collection.
