Pokémon Fans Rally Around Young Fan Scammed at Pokémon XP

Pokémon has always been a franchise built around trading. From swapping creatures with a Link Cable in the earliest games to trading cards across tables at conventions, sharing the things you love with another fan is baked into the DNA of the franchise. For younger fans in particular, events like the Pokémon World Championships can be the place where that community suddenly becomes real. This weekend, tens of thousands of fans descended on San Francisco for the 2026 Pokémon World Championships and the inaugural Pokémon XP, a massive three-day celebration taking over the Moscone Center. Pokémon XP has offered everything from panels and workshops to exhibitors and opportunities for fans to trade with one another. Unfortunately, one young fan walked away from one of those trades without the card he'd spent years working for.