u/Basti0n9273 — reddlx

For anyone who collects Pokemon cards in this province, the problem of Scalpers or as they are often known "re-sellers" is a common nightmare. I'm from London, Ontario and even what I've observed is seriously troubling.

To explain, these are groups that buy up the product from places like EB Games at a far cheaper price and then sell them for 2 or 3 times as much to the public for a massive profit.

This results in people (in many cases kids) who just want to play the game or genuinely collect it to be price gouged in the secondary market.

Also the nature in which these Scalper gangs work is pretty insidious. As I've observed how the patten goes is that a group of about 25-30 M.E. kids show up extremely early to try and crowd out any line with one adult who is handing them all money and debit cards telling them what to go after and what to avoid buying. These kids don't even know the names of the sets they are buying.

I talked to some of these kids yesterday and they had been forced to be there for 9 hours and made to sleep in cars in the parking lot. The reason why they use kids like this is obvious in that it's to try and appear legitimate and to pray on sympathies.

I observed an altercation that occurred at this store last Friday when one of the people waiting in line complained when about 15 more kids showed up and cut to the front of the line and the adult of the gang came over and started yelling threats and swearing at the man in line for complaining. He did this while the man in question was standing next to a frightened woman holding her baby.

The police were called and 4 of the gang were removed. This delayed the opening of the store and caused the kids I mentioned to start panicking saying they get to the next location by 11am and seemed frightened of what would happen if they didn't.

This is far from an isolated incident, I've spoken with staff from every EB Games in the city and they have reported similar incidents of threats and in some cases even violence in the part of these Scalper gangs.

On Thursday at White Oaks Mall in London there was an incident of a mother and her child being threatened and intimidated into allowing a mass number of them to cut in line in front of her to the point where she went from being 4th in line to 20th and ended up not being able to get anything for her son.

As I said I've spoken to EB Games Staff and they are very aware of this and who the Scalper gangs are but their corporate headquarters are holding them back from doing anything about it as the situation worsens and becomes more unstable.

Anyone who's googled or watched the news knows about the rash of card store break ins that have become endemic across Canada involving kids and teens breaking into stores to steal boxes of Pokemon.

In Chicago last week, there was a Law Enforcement raid on a known criminal gang and they found what you would expect, drug and guns but they also found mass amounts of Pokemon product being used to fund their criminal activities.

This brings up a very important question that needs to be looked into. As I said the scalper gangs here in London and surrounding area are always in groups of 25-30 kids with one adult overseeing them at each location giving out money and instructions to them.

How do we know what these adults are really using this product for and what it's funding?

If you want to contact EB Games about this issue this is the phone number for complaints regarding issues in the London and surrounding area 289-356-5866 and to contact the London

Police and demand they look into this matter because these kids are being used and exploited and as I said we don't know what the adults are using the cards to fund and as this week in the states proved, it can be for pretty nefarious purposes.

Take pictures of the line when you show up to prove how many were ahead of you. Do not let them intimidate you and if they try to or threaten you let the staff know and ask that the police be called to handle the situation.

Do NOT resort to violence yourselves or try in ANY way to escalate things to a violent level. Remember these kids are being exploited.

Please get in touch with me if you've seen this exact things happening in your city. I've been in contact with the OPP about this issue and I'm trying to gather as much info as I can.