6,451 Stolen Items – Is your card on record? The Verified Vault

6,451 Stolen Items: What the PSA Truck Theft Teaches Every Card Owner

The Snapshot

  • On October 13, 2026, PSA customer orders were stolen from a FedEx truck after pickup at PSA's Santa Ana, California, facility. (PSA)
  • On October 23, PSA published the full list of all 6,451 stolen items, with cert numbers, and deactivated the cert of every stolen graded item.
  • Before you buy any PSA slab, check the cert against the list with CardWire's search and run it through PSA's own cert verification.
  • PSA could publish that list because every card had a record. A blockchain certificate gives you that kind of record for your own card: who owns it, what it looks like, and when it was documented.

What happened

According to PSA, multiple customer orders were taken from a FedEx carrier truck on October 13, after the truck picked them up at PSA's facility in Santa Ana. The Santa Ana Police Department and the FBI are both investigating, and PSA says it has given investigators video footage, shipment manifests and item-level records.

On October 23, PSA published the complete list of all 6,451 stolen items, including PSA cert numbers and serial numbers for serialized cards. It deactivated the cert numbers of every stolen graded item and shared the list with marketplace sellers, auction houses and digital commerce platforms, which are watching for the cards.

CardWire, which built a searchable version of the list, reports that Santa Ana police put the loss at $963,000 (USD), and that most of the haul is modern: 4,669 of the 6,451 items were made in 2020 or later.

PSA says it has refunded grading fees on affected orders and is compensating customers who shipped on PSA's return label at fair market value, up to each item's declared insured value. If a card is recovered later, its owner can choose to keep the compensation or take the card back.

Check the cert before you buy

If you buy graded cards, this is now a required step:

  1. Get the cert number from the seller, with a photo of the label.
  2. Search it on CardWire's stolen-list search.
  3. Run the same number through PSA's cert verification. A deactivated cert won't come up. If it doesn't, don't buy the slab.
  4. If a cert is on the list, don't buy it. CardWire and PSA point buyers to the FBI's Los Angeles office (310-477-6565, ask for the duty agent on the PSA theft).

Stolen slabs aren't the only risk. On October 19, CCA warned that slabs marked "CCA" that it never graded are being sold online. Its advice is the same: "A grade on a label is a claim. A cert page with scans that match the card in your hand is proof."

What this story shows about records

The theft shows how much a good record is worth. PSA could tell the whole hobby exactly which items to watch for because each one had a cert number in its database.

But a grader's cert has limits for you as an owner:

  • It records the card and its grade, not who owns it. A cert says what's in the slab. It doesn't say the card is yours.
  • It lives in the grader's system. If a slab is cracked out or relabelled, the link between your card and its cert can be lost.
  • Raw cards have no cert at all. Most vintage cards sitting in binders and boxes have no record anywhere. If one goes missing, the owner may have little more than a memory to go on.

Why a blockchain certificate matters for valuable cards

A Verisart Web3 COA, what we call a digital twin, is a permanent, tamper-proof record of your card on the blockchain. It records:

  • Your card's photos, front and back, so it can be told apart from other copies of the same card. No two vintage cards have exactly the same centering, print marks and wear.
  • Ownership and provenance. The record shows who owns the card, and it can be transferred with the card when you sell it.
  • The grader and cert number, for graded cards, alongside your photos.
  • A date-stamped history that can't be quietly edited later.

What does that do for you?

  • It helps prove the card is yours. If a card is lost or stolen, you have dated photos and an ownership record to hand to police, a marketplace or your insurer.
  • It documents the card in detail, even if a slab is cracked or a raw card has no cert.
  • It makes a stolen card harder to resell. A buyer can ask to see the card's record. A card whose record is in someone else's name is a clear red flag.

To be clear about what it doesn't do: a blockchain certificate doesn't stop a physical theft, and it doesn't guarantee a card will be recovered or that a claim will be paid. It's a record, and records are what you need when something goes wrong.

Protect your cards with Sprunger Originals

You don't need to send us your card. Everything is done from your photos.

Gretzky rookie cards

  • Gretzky rookie card – digital twin: Graded card Web3 COA $14.99, Ungraded card Verisart Web3 COA $19.99, or NFT $24.99 (CAD). Only the Gretzky ungraded option comes with a tamper-proof hologram label with a serial number, mailed to you for your protective case.
  • Gretzky Rookie Card Collector Value Pack: $24.99 graded or $32.99 ungraded (CAD). It includes the digital twin and Verisart Web3 COA, a full Card Owner Report, the 42-page O-Pee-Chee history guide and more.

Photo ID is required for both, and you'll receive a PDF with photo instructions automatically after checkout.

Other cards and collections

Not sure what your Gretzky is? Start with our free estimated grade and real check. It's an estimated grade based on your photos. It's not an official PSA grade, and free services don't include a COA.

Have other vintage cards? Our Trading Card Evaluation gives you a free single-card estimated grade, or a set review of 1 to 5 cards for $10.00 (CAD). It's for vintage raw cards made before 1990 only. Estimated grades are not official PSA grades, and free services don't include a COA.

The bottom line

The PSA theft is a reminder that valuable cards can be stolen, and that a stolen card is easier to identify and harder to sell when there's a good record of it. Check every cert before you buy. And for the cards that matter most to you, create a record that proves they're yours.

Sources: PSA, "Stolen PSA Orders: What We're Doing and How You Can Help," Oct 23, 2026; CardWire, "Search All 6,451 Items on PSA's Stolen List," Oct 25, 2026; CCA, "Fake CCA Slabs Are Showing Up Online," Oct 19, 2026.

Sprunger Originals, Newmarket, Ontario

Back to blog