One man in Japan has been arrested for the crime of trying to trade fake popsicle sticks for Pokemon cards. I know, it sounds like an incredibly bizarre story, but stick with me.
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As part of an ongoing promotion that began last year in Japan, the Akagi Nyugyo ice cream company informed consumers in the region that it would begin giving out Pokemon cards to those who obtained select popsicle sticks that came in boxes that were being sold at stores. Those who came across one of these specific popsicle sticks would then be able to mail it in to the company and in return would receive an extremely rare Zarude Pokemon card, which is associated with Pokemon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle.
Well, the Akagi Nyugyo corporation soon found that something may be off when they realized that one entrant had sent in over 25 individual popsicle sticks. This competition was largely quite limited and the winning sticks were rare enough that for one person to have naturally stumbled across so many of these items was very unlikely. As it turns out, that’s because this person was apparently forging lookalikes of the actual winning sticks in order to obtain the rare Pokemon card. This forger was finally arrested earlier this week near Tokyo.
While this might sound wild enough on its own, what’s even more baffling is just how high the interest is for this promotion overall. Winning popsicle sticks that have been found have been reselling for the equivalent of nearly $500 in Japan, showing that fans are really willing to go all-out to get this exclusive Zarude card. Akagi Nyugyo has warned fans though that because one person has already been arrested for forgery, it stands to reason that more fakes could be out in the wild. So basically, the company was telling fans not to waste $500 on potentially-fake sticks.
This story’s advent is actually quite intriguing as it comes in a time where interest in Pokemon cards as a whole has been greatly renewed. Even though none in the United States are taking part in this Japan-only promotion, the original series of Pokemon cards have become quite popular over the past few months and are seeing some pretty high resale values of their own.
So what do you think about this wacky story? Give me your thoughts in the comments down below or shoot me a message on Twitter at @MooreMan12 to let me know.
[H/T Bulbagarden]
