A FedEx truck parked outside PSA's grading HQ in Santa Ana was broken into while the driver was away. Thieves took 200+ packages of freshly graded cards on their way back to collectors. Police put the loss at $963,000, and that number may rise.
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Token is not affiliated with PSA, FedEx, police or the victims. Not financial advice.
A graded slab is a card that has been authenticated, assigned a condition grade, and sealed in a tamper-evident case with a unique cert number. That turns a piece of cardboard into something closer to a certified asset: small, light, easy to price and easy to sell. A truck full of fresh returns is pallets of that value in one place.
A PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator sold at Goldin on Feb 16, 2026, the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction, per Guinness World Records.
A PSA 10 typically sells for 2 to 5 times a raw copy of a modern card, and 5 to 10 times or more for vintage. A 10 often brings 2 to 5 times a 9.
Of 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles sent to PSA in 2025, 112 of 181 were counterfeit. PSA intercepted about $200M in projected value of fake collectibles that year. A slab is the buyer's proof it's real.
PSA graded 2.5 million cards in June 2026 alone, out of 3.5 million graded industry-wide. Price guides, auction comps and marketplace listings are built around PSA grades.
PSA publishes how many copies exist at each grade. A low population, like the 12 PSA 10 copies of the stolen Zoro, is what pushes a card into five or six figures.
A slab fits in a pocket and can be worth more than a car. That is what makes a shipment of returns a target, and why voided certs matter: thieves may crack slabs and sell the cards raw.
On Tuesday, October 13, a FedEx truck was parked near PSA's shipping and receiving entrance on East St. Andrew Place. It was loaded with outbound returns: cards PSA had just graded and slabbed, going back to their owners. The driver left the truck for 60 to 90 minutes. During that time someone broke the lock and emptied it.
Police say two pallets of about 100 packages each were taken outright, and a third pallet was "disrupted," with about 50 packages missing. Each package can hold many cards. Police confirmed sports and Pokémon cards; collectors have also reported Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece cards.
"The exact value of what was stolen could not be determined until the remaining boxes were scanned," police said. Some collectors think the true total is well above $1 million.
Individual cards people say were on the truck. PSA has voided every cert on the truck, so a cert lookup on any of these should come back invalid. If one shows up for sale, report it to the marketplace and to PSA.
"We understand how upsetting this news must be. While your items were not in our possession at the time of the burglary, we take our role in helping secure your items seriously and will work with you to resolve this situation as best we can."
Quoted via Kotaku · Oct 19, 2026"We have deactivated the certificates for the stolen items and notified marketplace partners… Our customer service team has contacted affected customers directly and is arranging compensation based on fair market value."PSA statement to Kotaku · Oct 19
"We will compensate you… based on fair market value up to the Maximum Insured Value ("MIV") you selected for each item."PSA email to affected customers
"The security of our customers' shipments is a top priority… we are working with local law enforcement in their investigation."FedEx spokesperson
"I am currently out all of the money that it cost to acquire these cards, I'm out all the PSA grading fees, and I don't have and I probably will never see any of these cards in person."SKY-B, collector & YouTuber
PSA pays the lesser of a card's fair market value or the Maximum Insured Value (MIV) the customer picked at submission. Grading fees are being refunded. A $10,000 card submitted with a $5,000 MIV gets about $5,000.
That is the sore spot. SKY-B paid $8,468 in fees on a 104-card order insured to $156,000, and worries the offers will come in low. One-of-ones, low-pop slabs and rare autographs have few comparable sales, so "fair market value" is hard to pin down. PSA has said it will "evaluate our processes and procedures" with shipping partners.
Last updated Oct 20, 2026. Independent fan tracker. Not affiliated with PSA, Collectors, FedEx or Santa Ana PD. Values are as reported by collectors and media.