A heartwarming story of a community putting values above value comes from the convention floor of Pokémon XP.
At the August 29th event in San Francisco, venture capitalist Eric Bahn shared that his son was scammed while trading Pokémon cards with an adult.
“Lost his most valuable cards in a fraudulent trade by some guy in a booth,” Bahn wrote on X. “Very tough lesson for him. Sucks to see an adult take advantage of a child.”
A series of personality card collectors quickly replied to the comment offering to help, if possible, make the boy’s collection whole again.
The first was a YouTuber by the channel name “Deep Pocket Monster,” a play on words with the Japanese translation of Pokémon [pocket monsters].
In an earlier reply, Bahn revealed that his son had lost a “PSA 9 Rayquaza VMAX #218 from Evolving Skies” an exceptionally valuable card the lad had spent a long time trading up to.
It was a valuable one, took him many years of trading to work up towards pic.twitter.com/pBqTc8G3S8
— Eric Bahn 💛 (@ericbahn) August 30, 2026
Deep Pocket Monster, who Bahn’s son had met just hours before he was scammed, replied that he would “reach out via DM,” saying he’d love to help out.
Sonoroman, whose profile lists him as Pokémon’s “Premier Event Manager for Latin America and Oceania,” saw this reply and left one of his own, saying that if he can locate the card in his vast collection, he’d be happy to hand it over. Alternatively, the gentleman card collector said he’d have a surprise for Bahn’s son if the pair decided to return to the convention.
On a happier note, thank you @DeepPocketMnstr for being so kind and generous to my son and friend today. My son got scammed right after meeting you in this pic, but despite that he said interacting with you made his day. Thank you for that. pic.twitter.com/jzOEMXRjI3
— Eric Bahn 💛 (@ericbahn) August 30, 2026
Sonoroman wasn’t the only one in the thread who offered to make the boy’s collection whole again if they had this rare Rayquaza card—a US Army veteran made the same offer. Bahn thanked everyone who had reached out, supported the family, or offered gifts, saying it helped his son learn a second lesson—that there are far more good people in the world than bad people.
It’s unclear if the card was ever indeed replaced, but as inflation has driven up asset prices considerably over the last 20 years, and as the first launch of Pokémon Trading Cards back in 1997 drifts further and further into history, many cards are attracting hair-raising valuations.
Some of these offers to replace the card may have represented 4 or even 5-figure sums.
The story was first reported by Dextero, which writes on gaming and collectibles.
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