Cops confront Pokemon card scalper after unplugging machine to bypass purchase limits

A manager called the police on a Pokemon card scalper after he unplugged the vending machine to its reset purchase limits and buy more products.

Pokemon card scalping has become a huge ordeal in recent years, with fights brawls breaking out in Costco parking lots over new releases, pushing matches at vending machines, and people even using counterfeit money to trick scalpers.

In one instance, a scalper even followed a restocker from store to store, waiting to buy up inventory and always being the first in line.

However, some stores are taking action. While GameStop implemented purchase limits to stop fights in its aisles, others aren’t afraid to call the police on anyone who abuses the system to buy up Pokemon merch.

Manager goes viral after calling the cops on Pokemon card scalper

In a TikTok uploaded by user ‘bao5973,’ police were seen confronting the scalper who had a shopping cart full of merch which he had paid for with his credit card.

“I was like, ‘dude, don’t buy all of it.’ And he unplugged the machine,” the manager told the police.

The scalper argued that he didn’t see anything about a limit on the machine and now the problem was getting refunded for the cards he ended up buying.

“Now you gotta pay it off,” the manager quipped.

“How can we resolve this in a way the customer’s happy and the business is happy,” the officer asked, trying to make peace with everyone involved.

It’s not clear exactly what solution ended up being reached, but users in the comments were baffled at the face this incident needed the police to be involved.

“Grown adults crying over Pokemon is wild,” one said.

“If he is unplugging the machine I would think that could be considered tampering with a business or even vandalism,” another chimed in.

“I hope all scalpers get trespassed from all stores,” someone else remarked.

According to the uploader, even though the machine has purchase limits, “this dude was dispensing 25 items in one transaction” and that is why the employee “started tripping.”

Since being uploaded on April 2, the video has gone viral in Pokemon card communities and has been viewed over 600,000 times on TikTok alone.