PSA Cards Stolen From a FedEx Truck: What PSA Pays and How to Spot Stolen Slabs

If your PSA order was on the FedEx truck burglarized near PSA's Santa Ana headquarters on October 13, PSA says it has already contacted you. It'll pay fair market value up to the Max Insured Value you picked for each card. PSA sets that fair market value itself, it won't pay for sentimental value, and you'll have to sign a release to get the money. If you're buying PSA slabs over the next few months, run every cert number on PSA's site yourself: PSA says it has deactivated the cert numbers of the stolen cards.

Santa Ana police put the stolen cards at $963,000, and they've said that figure isn't final. This page covers what's known about the theft and what PSA's coverage pays. It also covers how to tell whether a slab you're buying is one of the stolen ones, and what to change on your next submission. The facts come from police, PSA and FedEx statements reported by the Associated Press, CBS Los Angeles and others through October 20. We checked PSA's coverage, terms and pricing pages on October 21, 2026.

What Happened in Santa Ana: The FedEx Truck Theft at PSA

Someone broke into a FedEx truck parked near PSA's headquarters in Santa Ana, California, on October 13, 2026. Whoever did it took two pallets of graded cards that were on their way back to the people who'd sent them in. Police told the Associated Press that the truck's lock was gone, a third pallet had been disturbed, and the driver had left the truck unattended. They haven't said how long the driver was away. Sports and Pokemon cards were among those taken, according to the police statement CBS Los Angeles reported.

The count so far is in packages, not cards. Police figures reported by The Athletic, as cited in Newsweek's report, put each stolen pallet at about 100 packages, plus about 50 packages taken from the third pallet. That's roughly 250 packages, and nobody has said how many cards were inside them. One affected collector, the YouTuber SKY-B Cards, said his own order held 104 cards.

Santa Ana police spokesperson Natalie Garcia gave the value in a news release: "The estimated value of the stolen cards at the time of the incident was $963,000." She added that the exact value hasn't been determined, and CBS Los Angeles reported it couldn't be until the remaining boxes were scanned. Nick Andrews, a collector near Boston who told the AP he'd heard from at least two dozen affected people, put the losses far higher: "Thousands of cards, most likely, and millions of dollars, most likely." That's his estimate, not a police figure.

Date (2026)	What happened	Reported by
October 13	FedEx truck burglarized near PSA in Santa Ana; two pallets taken, a third disturbed	Santa Ana police, via AP and CBS Los Angeles
October 17	SKY-B Cards posts that his 104-card PSA order was stolen	Sports Illustrated
October 19	PSA confirms the theft and says the stolen certs are deactivated	Kotaku, Sports Illustrated
By October 19	Police estimate puts the loss at $963,000, not final	CBS Los Angeles
October 19 to 20	No arrests, nothing recovered, investigation ongoing	CBS Los Angeles, AP

Dates come from the reports listed. We haven't seen the police release itself, only the reports quoting it.

Bottom line: Two pallets plus part of a third, roughly 250 packages and an estimated $963,000 in cards, were taken from a FedEx truck carrying PSA returns. As of the October 20 reports, nobody had been arrested and none of the cards had been recovered.

What PSA, FedEx and Police Have Said

PSA's parent company, Collectors, confirmed the theft in a statement to several outlets: "We are aware of a theft involving a third-party shipping vehicle carrying PSA-graded items." It said it has deactivated the cert numbers of the stolen cards and notified marketplace partners "so they can be on the lookout for rare and serialized items." It also said its customer service team has contacted affected customers directly to arrange compensation based on fair market value. None of the reports we've seen include a list of the stolen cert numbers or name the marketplaces PSA notified.

The email PSA sent SKY-B, as Kotaku reported it, spells out how PSA will pay. Compensation is "fair market value up to the Maximum Insured Value" selected for each item, paid under PSA's terms. The email also says the cards weren't in PSA's possession when the truck was broken into, and that PSA will compensate him anyway.

FedEx spokesperson David Westrick told the AP that "the security of our customers' shipments is a top priority" and referred further questions to police. FedEx didn't mention compensation in any report we've seen. If you paid PSA for return shipping, PSA's shipping page says the package was insured under PSA's policy, so start with PSA.

Bottom line: PSA has confirmed the theft, deactivated the stolen certs and promised compensation at fair market value, capped at each card's Max Insured Value. It hasn't said how it'll set fair market value or when it'll pay.

What PSA Pays for Cards Stolen in Shipping

PSA pays the lower of two numbers: the card's fair market value or the Max Insured Value of the service level you paid for. That's on PSA's coverage page. PSA's terms, last updated April 22, 2026, add four conditions. PSA decides fair market value at its sole discretion and can set it "by any means." You have to sign PSA's Release of Claims Agreement to get paid. Intrinsic or sentimental value is excluded, so a card you'd never have sold is worth what the market says, not what it's worth to you. And PSA can hold back or offset a settlement if you owe it money.

PSA service level	Price per card	Max Insured Value
Value Bulk, Value	Paused	$500
Standard	$59.99	$1,000
Priority	$79.99	$1,500
Express	$199	$2,500
Super Express	$349	$5,000
Premier	$599	$10,000
Premium 1	$999	$25,000
Premium 2	$1,999	$50,000
Premium 3	$2,999	$100,000
Premium 5	$4,999	$250,000
Premium 10	$9,999 and up	Over $250,000

Prices and caps are PSA's published figures from its trading card services page, checked October 21, 2026. The cap that applies to a stolen card is the one you picked on your order. PSA renamed and repriced several tiers on September 14, 2026, so check your order rather than this table. Our PSA backlog guide covers why the Value tiers are paused.

The cap only decides the payout on a card worth more than it. Take a card worth $4,000 sent at Express: its cap is $2,500, so $2,500 is the most PSA pays. The same card sent at Super Express, $150 more, has a $5,000 cap, and the payout is whatever fair market value PSA sets for it, anywhere up to that cap. On a card worth less than its cap, the payout is PSA's fair market value and nothing else.

SKY-B told Newsweek his 104 cards were insured up to $156,000, that he values them at more than $100,000, and that he'd paid about $8,000 in grading fees. He told CBS Los Angeles that PSA's offers to some affected collectors were "insultingly low." His totals don't show which number decides his payout, because caps work card by card: a 1-of-1 worth more than its own cap gets the cap, however much coverage the rest of the order carries. His order included case hits and 1-of-1s, and a 1-of-1 that was just graded has no sold comp in that slab for either side to point at.

If PSA finds after grading that a card is worth more than your tier's cap, its coverage page says it moves the card up a service level. The higher coverage applies once you've paid the difference. PSA hasn't said whether any of the stolen cards were moved up that way before they shipped.

Bottom line: The most you can get back is your tier's Max Insured Value, and below that cap, PSA picks the number. Pull sold comps for every card at its grade before PSA sends you its figure. For a 1-of-1, use the closest sales you can find, such as the card's own earlier raw sale or similar 1-of-1s.

What to Do If Your PSA Order Was Stolen

PSA says its customer service team has contacted affected customers directly. If your return shipped from Santa Ana around October 13, its tracking stopped moving, and you haven't heard from PSA, contact PSA with your order number rather than waiting. PSA hasn't published a list of affected orders, and the stolen-card lists going around online were put together by collectors, not PSA.

PSA's terms set a deadline for reporting a missing return, and for these orders it's close. Section 7 gives you 17 calendar days from the original estimated delivery date to report a missing return, or 30 days from the ship date if you weren't given an estimate. An order estimated to arrive October 14, the day after the theft, hits that deadline on October 31, so check the estimated date on your tracking. PSA reached out to affected customers first, but a written report from you costs nothing and puts your date on record. Put these together now:

Your order number, plus the grade and cert number PSA posted for each card. The cert numbers are what PSA deactivated, and they're how a slab gets identified if it turns up.
Sold comps for each card at its grade, with dates and links, from the most recent sales you can find. PSA sets fair market value, but nothing in its terms stops you from showing it what the market paid.
Photos of each card from before you shipped it, front and back. Serial numbers, corners and print marks are what identify a card once a thief cracks the slab.
The service level of each card, since that sets its cap, and the value you declared.

If your return went on your own FedEx account, PSA's terms say PSA didn't insure that package. PSA's statement doesn't say whether this theft is handled differently, so ask PSA. If you carry your own collectibles insurance, ask your insurer whether it covers the gap between your Max Insured Value and what the card's worth. Ask too whether it covers cards in a carrier's hands at all, since that depends on the policy.

Bottom line: Confirm PSA has your order on its list and get a written report in before the 17-day window closes. Build your fair market value case from sold comps before PSA's number arrives.

How to Spot a Stolen PSA Slab Before You Buy

Run the cert number on PSA's cert verification page yourself, every time, before you pay. A deactivated cert doesn't bring up the card. It brings up a line like this one, from an older cert we looked up on October 21: "The certification number provided, #68065456, was intentionally DEACTIVATED on 1/19/2024 in the database." That cert has nothing to do with this theft, and the page doesn't say why a cert was deactivated. Don't buy a slab whose cert comes back that way until PSA explains it.

Type the number in yourself rather than following the seller's link or screenshot, which only shows you what the seller chose to show. Then match what PSA returns against the slab in the listing: the player or character, year, set, card number and grade all have to agree with the label. PSA's verification page says a cert check "does not eliminate risk," because counterfeiters can use valid cert numbers. A live cert that matches the label rules out a deactivated slab, and it doesn't rule out a fake one.

The bigger gap in a cert check is the crack-out. A thief who breaks a slab open loses the cert number and ends up with a raw card PSA's cert check can't flag. Newsweek notes that deactivation makes resale through official channels harder but doesn't stop a private sale. Serial numbers survive a crack-out, and Collectors asked marketplaces to watch for rare and serialized items. A Reddit user has also started a shared spreadsheet of the serial numbers, cards and grades owners have reported stolen, according to Sports Illustrated. It's a collector-made list, not PSA's, and we haven't checked it. Be wary of a numbered card or a 1-of-1 that turns up raw in the next few months. Ask the seller where it came from, and check the serial number against that list before you pay.

Eligible single cards that sell for $200 or more on eBay go through eBay's Authenticity Guarantee, which our Authenticity Guarantee guide covers. We haven't seen anything saying it checks for deactivated certs, so run the cert yourself before you bid, and use our buying and selling guide for the rest of vetting a seller.

Bottom line: Check every cert on PSA's site yourself and walk away from one that comes back deactivated. For serialized cards, check the serial number against the collector-made list too, slabbed or raw.

How to Protect Your Next PSA Submission

This theft happened on the trip home, which PSA covers when you've paid it for return shipping. The part of that trip you control is your Max Insured Value. Pick the service level for what the card will be worth graded, not for the cheapest fee its raw value allows. A raw card worth $800 that comes back a PSA 10 worth $3,000 is covered to $1,000 at Standard until PSA moves it up to a tier whose cap clears $3,000. That's Super Express at $5,000, and the higher cap applies only once you've paid the upgrade fees. The price gap between Standard and Super Express is $289.01 a card at October 2026 prices.

Pay PSA for return shipping rather than using your own FedEx account. PSA's shipping page says a return on PSA's shipping fee is insured under PSA's policy and needs a signature on delivery. PSA's terms say a return on your own account isn't insured by PSA. The fee scales with the insured value: for one to four cards it runs from $19.99 at $2,000 of coverage to $139.99 above $450,000. PSA picks the carrier, and the page lists UPS, FedEx and armored carriers including Brinks and Malca-Amit.

PSA's coverage page says PSA doesn't insure the trip in, so insure it yourself. If you pick FedEx at checkout, PSA offers inbound insurance through a partner, Cabrella. A claim goes to Cabrella, not PSA. Our grading prep guide covers packing the submission itself.

Photograph every card front and back before it ships, and keep each card's service level, declared value and recent comps with the photos. That file is what you'd hand PSA if this happened to your order, and it's what identifies a raw card if the slab gets cracked.

Coverage ends when the package reaches you, and from there it's your storage and your own insurance. When the slabs come home, check each cert against your order, photograph the slabs and log the cert numbers before they go into graded sleeves or one of our slab cases. A case of any kind, ours included, isn't a safe. Our long-term storage guide covers where to keep them.

Bottom line: Pick the tier for what the card will be worth graded, and pay PSA for the return so it's covered. Insure the trip in, and photograph every card before it leaves your hands.

What Not to Do After the PSA Theft

Don't pick a tier on fee alone for a card that could grade into a higher value. The tier's cap is the most PSA pays if the card's lost, until PSA moves it up and you've paid the difference.
Don't use your own FedEx account for the return to save on shipping. PSA's terms say it doesn't insure that package.
Don't trust a cert screenshot. Type the number into PSA's verification page yourself.
Don't buy a slab whose cert comes back deactivated, whatever the seller says, until PSA confirms what happened.
Don't buy a raw serialized card from this window without checking its serial number against the collector-made list and asking where it came from.
Don't buy more storage because of this story. These cards were taken from a delivery truck, not from anyone's shelf, and no case on a shelf would have changed that.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened with the PSA FedEx truck theft?

On October 13, 2026, someone broke into a FedEx truck parked near PSA's headquarters in Santa Ana, California. Two pallets of graded cards on their way back to customers were taken. Police said the driver had left the truck unattended. Sports and Pokemon cards were among those taken.

How much were the stolen PSA cards worth?

Santa Ana police estimated the stolen cards at $963,000 and said the exact value hasn't been determined. Police figures reported by The Athletic put the haul at roughly 250 packages: about 100 on each of two pallets, plus about 50 from a third.

Will PSA pay for cards stolen from the FedEx truck?

Yes. PSA says it's compensating affected customers at fair market value, up to the Max Insured Value of each card's service level. PSA sets the fair market value, sentimental value isn't covered, and you have to sign PSA's Release of Claims Agreement to be paid.

What is PSA's Max Insured Value?

It's the coverage cap that comes with each PSA service level, and the most PSA pays if a card is lost or damaged in its care or on a return you paid PSA to ship. On October 21, 2026, it ran from $1,000 a card at Standard to $10,000 at Premier, with the Premium tiers going higher. The paused Value tiers carry a $500 cap.

How do I know if my PSA order was stolen?

PSA says it has contacted affected customers directly. If your return shipped from Santa Ana around October 13, its tracking stalled, and you haven't heard from PSA, contact PSA with your order number. PSA hasn't published a list of affected orders.

How do I check if a PSA slab is stolen?

Type the cert number into PSA's cert verification page yourself. PSA says it has deactivated the cert numbers of the stolen cards. An older deactivated cert we looked up returned a message saying the number was "intentionally DEACTIVATED" instead of the card's details, though we haven't seen one of the stolen certs. A card cracked out of its slab can't be checked that way, so check a serialized card's number against the collector-made list.

What should I do if a PSA cert comes back deactivated?

Don't buy the slab. If you already own it, contact PSA Customer Care: PSA's cert page asks you to recheck the number for typos first, then send front and back photos of the item. If you bought it through a marketplace, open a case with the marketplace as well.

Does PSA insure cards on the way back to me?

Yes, if you paid PSA's return shipping. Coverage starts when PSA confirms it received your item and runs until the item reaches its next destination, including back to you. A return shipped on your own carrier account isn't insured by PSA.

Does PSA insure cards I ship to PSA?

No. PSA's coverage page says PSA doesn't insure inbound packages. If you choose FedEx at checkout, PSA offers inbound insurance through its partner Cabrella, and claims go through Cabrella.

Has anyone been arrested for the PSA card theft?

Not as of the October 20 reports. Santa Ana police hadn't announced any arrests or recovered any of the cards, and the investigation was ongoing.

The Bottom Line

Roughly 250 packages of PSA returns, valued by police at an estimated $963,000 so far, were taken from a FedEx truck near PSA's Santa Ana headquarters on October 13. PSA has deactivated the stolen certs, asked marketplaces to watch for rare and serialized cards, and says it'll pay affected customers fair market value up to each card's Max Insured Value. It sets that value itself, it doesn't pay for sentimental value, and you have to sign a release to collect.

If your order was on the truck, get a written report in within PSA's 17-day window and build your case from sold comps. If you're buying, check every cert yourself on PSA's site and walk away from a deactivated one. If you're submitting, pick the tier for the graded value, pay PSA for the return, insure the trip in, and photograph everything before it ships.

The theft

If your cards were on the truck

Buying and submitting from here