Two brothers walked into a gaming shop, filled their bags with over £62,000 worth of Pokémon cards, and walked back out. Simple. Clean. And caught on camera within days. If you’re thinking “well, at least the CCTV worked,” you’re not wrong. But this story is less about a couple of thieves and more about how we’ve become almost comically dependent on video surveillance as our primary theft deterrent.
I’ve been working in IT long enough to remember when CCTV meant a bank had maybe four grainy cameras and a security guard who actually watched the monitors. Now? Every corner store, petrol station, and gaming shop has high-definition cameras recording everything 24/7. We’ve created this illusion that because we’re recording something, we’re preventing something. Usually, we’re just documenting what already happened.
CCTV Is Great for Finding Thieves, Terrible for Stopping Them
Let’s be honest about what happened here. The CCTV footage didn’t prevent the theft. Two people still walked out with tens of thousands of pounds worth of merchandise. The cameras were useful precisely once: after the fact, when police needed to identify and catch the perpetrators.
This is the fundamental flaw in how we think about CCTV. We treat it as a security solution when it’s really just an investigative tool. Sure, knowing there are cameras might deter some casual shoplifters—the ones who aren’t desperate or organized enough to do it anyway. But for anyone committed to stealing from a location, a camera is barely a speed bump.
I’ve consulted with countless retail businesses about their security, and the conversation always follows the same pattern. They show me their camera system—usually installed years ago, occasionally maintained, sometimes actively deteriorating—and ask if it’s good enough. I ask them a simple question: “What happens when something is stolen?” The answer, almost universally, is that they call the police and hope the footage helps identify someone.
Rarely does anyone say: “We have active monitoring with armed response.” That’s expensive. That’s inconvenient. That’s actual security. CCTV is cheap security theater.
The Real Lesson: Layers Matter More Than Cameras
A gaming shop with £62,000 worth of merchandise hanging around unprotected is asking for trouble, camera or no camera. This is basic risk management. You can’t just rely on one tool and expect it to solve everything. It doesn’t work with cybersecurity, and it doesn’t work with physical security.
Effective security requires multiple overlapping defenses:
- Limited stock on the floor at any given time
- Locked cases for high-value items
- Actual staff attention—someone watching the store, not just the camera feed
- Visitor management (knowing who’s in your building)
- Insurance and loss accounting (knowing what’s missing and when)
- Environmental design (good lighting, sight lines, no blind spots)
- Yes, cameras—but as one layer, not the main layer
You notice CCTV appears at the bottom of that list? That’s not an accident. It’s where it belongs. The cameras helped after the damage was done. Everything else is supposed to prevent the damage in the first place.
Why We Keep Getting This Wrong
The reason CCTV dominates our security thinking is simple: it’s visible, it’s relatively cheap to install, and it makes people feel safer. Business owners can point to the cameras and say they’ve done something about security. Insurance companies like them because they reduce claims disputes. Governments like them because they support law enforcement. Everyone wins—except for actual security.
Meanwhile, the cameras keep recording. Millions of hours of footage, most of it never watched, most of it never needed. We’ve built an infrastructure for surveillance that’s brilliant at documenting crimes and absolutely mediocre at preventing them.
The Pokemon card theft is a perfect example. The brothers probably knew the cameras existed. They almost certainly didn’t care. They took their shot because the real security—staff awareness, stock management, prevention measures—was either absent or inadequate. The cameras caught them on the way out, which is useful for the police but meaningless for the business owner who lost £62,000.
If you’re running a shop or managing a facility, don’t kid yourself that cameras are enough. They’re one piece of the puzzle, and honestly? A pretty small piece. Spend your money on the things that actually stop theft: good staff, smart inventory management, and making your location an inconvenient target. The cameras? Install them by all means. But don’t pretend they’re doing more than they are.
Source: Brothers steal £62k of Pokemon cards
Michael Torres
David Nguyen