(NewsNation) — Thieves from organized crime rings in California have a new target: Legos.
Criminals hitting stores with Legos are going straight for the lucrative Minifigures, the little characters part of bigger Lego sets, sometimes worth hundreds of dollars.
A Lego resale store in Whittier, California, was hit last month. In under a minute and a half, thieves scooped up over $6,000 worth of collectible Minifigures. These are likely to surface on the thriving black market soon.
“They came in, checked the register first, which we didn’t have any cash in. And they went straight to the Minifigs which are the little guys that go with all the LEGO sets. They’re the easiest to get. They are the most valuable when it comes to something that’s quick and easy to grab.” store owner Katherine Leuschner told NewsNation.
In recent weeks, five other stores in Southern California have been robbed of Legos, and owners suspect the same crew is behind the break-ins. Many of the stolen products are expected to appear online.
Collectible Legos have become a popular commodity among investors who are always searching for new pieces to add to their Lego portfolios.
“Particularly Facebook Marketplace, I think is probably the most popular option these days. You see a lot of these thefts being listed on there. Pretty soon after they take place, they’ll start to try to offload them,” said Joshua Hanlon, host and owner of Beyond the Brick, the “world’s largest LEGO fan community.”
A donated gold Lego piece that showed up at a Pennsylvania Goodwill was auctioned off for $18,000 back in February.
Hanlon says it is practically impossible to know if rare Lego sets and figurines listed online are stolen since they are toys with no serial numbers.
However, not all stolen goods are flipped right away. As limited edition sets like those for Star Wars and Harry Potter get older, they will only continue to appreciate in value, so police suspect a lot of the stolen Lego sets and Minifigures won’t be listed online immediately.