Man Scams Victims Out Of $12,000 By Selling Fake 'Pokémon' Cards: Police

A man was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tuesday for allegedly scamming victims out of thousands of dollars by selling them counterfeit "Pokémon" cards.

The Tulsa Police Department (TPD) arrested the suspect, identified as Michael McCoy, after the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office charged him with five counts following a four-month investigation, Fox 23 reported.

Police started receiving complaints about the fake cards in March from victims located across the U.S., including Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, Texas and Hawaii, according to Lieutenant Andrew Weeden with the TPD's Financial Crimes.

The victims told police that they spent thousands of dollars buying what they thought were rare and high-value "Pokémon" cards from an individual in Tulsa. However, they said they later found that the cards they received were fake.

The TPD and the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office which "specializes in intellectual property and trademark infringement" received assistance from Nintendo, and one of its employees "determined that the 'Pokémon' cards were, in fact, counterfeit," police said.

"They received 'Pokémon' cards in the mail that they had purchased through craigslist ads that were fake," Weeden said, according to Fox 23. "We looked into this suspect and found that he has had a past record of various fraud type of offenses."

McCoy was allegedly able to scam people out of $10,000 to $12,000 by selling the fabricated "Pokémon" cards, Weeden said.

"The cards that were sold by the suspect had little to no value on their own, however, were being sold as 'rare collectors cards' for $350 per card," TPD said.

The TPD worked with one of the victims, Hawaii resident Riley Bennett, to coordinate an arrest of McCoy.

Bennett said he bought around $3,000 worth of fake cards from McCoy.

"Everything looked absolutely flawless like really good to me. And he was very communicative, taking pictures of time stamps, willing to video chat with me," Bennett was quoted as saying by Fox 23. "I ended up eventually just ... sending the money and trusting the person."

He continued, "It was like instant that I knew. I was like, 'These are terrible quality, these are totally fraudulent.'"

Bennett said he set up a fake number to trick McCoy into selling him cards again.

McCoy was arrested by Tulsa police when he went to the post office to mail the cards out.

McCoy has been charged with obtaining merchandise by false pretense over $1,000 x 5 and violation of the trademark anti-counterfeiting act, TPD said in its release.

McCoy is also wanted in Arkansas on unrelated drug charges, including possession of fentanyl.

His bond for the false pretense charge was set at $4,000, People reported, citing McCoy's booking record. He is being held without bond for the Arkansas warrants.

Authentic "Pokémon" cards can be expensive and can cost anywhere between $200 to thousands of dollars.

"The most expensive card that we've ever sold in the store is about $4,000. Most of the more expensive cards that we usually sell are in the $200 to $300," Warren Green, the store manager of Wizards Asylum Comics & Games in east Tulsa, which sells Pokémon cards, was quoted as saying by Fox 23.