Gotta steal 'em all: Man in Japan caught after swiping 1,500 Pokemon cards

Be careful whom you work for.

A 35-year-old man in Japan has been arrested after stealing about 1,500 Pokemon cards worth 1.15 million yen (S$11,000), according to local media reports this week.

Masaki Omori saw a Twitter post for a yami baito, or also known as a "dark" part-time job. These jobs recruit people through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and usually promise high salaries.

Omori, who is from Urasoe in Okinawa prefecture, responded to one such social media post and was told to steal Pokemon cards, for which he would be paid more than 1 million yen after the job.

But he never got paid.

Pokemon card crime spree rocks Japan

Japan has been hit by a Pokemon card crime spree, reported the Wall Street Journal on June 10, adding that popular Pokemon cards can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Similar incidents occurred recently in the country. In May, about 600 Pokemon trading cards were stolen from a store in the Kumamoto prefecture. One of the cards was worth 600,000 yen.

In the same month, a man was arrested for stealing 2.2 million yen worth of Pokemon cards in the Yamanashi prefecture.

Omori's alleged burglary

At 5am on April 12, Omori allegedly broke into a store at Tokyo's Akihabara district and stole the cards.

The store was chosen by the person who hired Omori. Although the store sold other items like smartphones, Omori was instructed to steal the cards, reported Japanese news site SoraNews24.

On April 11, Omori flew to Ibaraki prefecture from Okinawa. He used his own money to rent a car and travelled to Akihabara district.

Omori had received equipment including a glove from a man waiting at a store in the Tokyo suburbs, reported The Japan Times, citing investigators. It is unclear who the man is or how he played a role in the burglary.

Omori subsequently took the cards to a park in Ibaraki prefecture and handed them to his contact, reported SoraNews24. He was then told to pick up his payment at a location at a later date, said the news report, but no one showed up when Omori went to the location.

Omori reportedly told the police that he needed the money to cover living expenses after he incurred heavy losses from gambling.

The authorities are now using his smartphone to track the person or people who hired Omori.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.