The Pokémon Company has been compelled to cancel orders for its 30th Anniversary Cards following a cyber incident that potentially exposed customer information. Fans who had pre-ordered these special trading cards through the Pokémon Center website were notified via email about the breach.
This incident appears to be confined to European orders, which were slated for fulfillment by a logistics firm named CEVA. Coincidentally, Valve recently alerted its customers to a data theft incident involving the same company, which also affected purchasers of Steam hardware. The exact number of Pokémon customers affected by this data breach remains unclear, as does the reasoning behind the complete cancellation of these specific orders.
The affected customer information may include full names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and details about the contents of their Pokémon Center orders. The Pokémon Company has been contacted for further comment.
This news arrives amidst ongoing challenges with Pokémon card scarcity. Retailers like Target have taken measures such as opening boxes on-site to deter scalpers, and some releases in Japan are now restricted to residents. In certain locations, facial recognition technology has been implemented to limit daily card purchases for both adults and children. The immense popularity and perceived value of rare Pokémon cards have made them a significant target for scalpers and thieves in recent years, with new releases frequently selling out. Despite printing approximately 10 billion cards last year, The Pokémon Company has struggled to meet the sustained demand.