PSA heist victims say insurance-capped payouts won’t cover what they lost

Victims of the FedEx truck theft outside PSA say the company’s compensation plan, which pays fair market value up to each card’s declared maximum insured value, won’t make them whole. One first-time submitter put his loss at about $75,000 after declaring every card at PSA’s $499 tier.

As we first reported, the truck was taken on Oct. 13 outside PSA’s Santa Ana headquarters, and PSA has since confirmed 6,451 slabs were stolen. Two full shipping pallets were wiped out and a third was disrupted. The FBI has joined Santa Ana police on the case.

Now the human cost is coming into focus.

“That’s where the gray area is”

Alessandro Spennato sent 82 cards to PSA through Wheelhouse Cards in West Chester, Pa. It was his first PSA submission, and all 82 were stolen, including eight 1/1s: seven Roman Reigns cards and a Mike Tyson 2024 Combat Anthology card.

He told Sports Collectors Digest he values the loss at about $75,000, which he called a low-end estimate. But he declared each card at the $499 tier. Some of the cards were Reigns Gold Shimmer and Gold Pandora parallels he expected to come back Gem Mint 10.

His point: a card that grades a 10 can be worth far more than what it was worth going in. “How many times do you send cards to PSA and you get an upcharge?” Spennato said. “That’s where the gray area is.”

Two years of cards, gone

Skyler Bennett lost all 104 cards in his submission, which he had built up over two years. The order included football, NBA and WNBA cards, including KABOOM!, Downtown and Color Blast case hits and several 1/1s. He handed the order to PSA at its booth at the National Sports Collectors Convention in late July.

Bennett set a maximum insured value of $156,000 and paid $8,467.60 in grading fees. His package was due on Oct. 13. He confirmed the loss on Oct. 16.

“There are many irreplaceable cards in here that I will never see again,” Bennett said. “It feels like you can’t trust anyone in the hobby, especially the shipping companies.”

What PSA is offering

PSA has said that recovering every stolen item and returning it to its owner is its “top priority.” Its stated plan, as reported by SI and SCD:

• Fee refunds: Grading fees on every affected order have been refunded. PSA says these refunds are separate from item compensation and do not reduce it.
• No waiting: “We will not ask impacted customers to wait for the investigation to conclude before receiving compensation,” PSA said.
• How payouts work: Compensation is based on fair market value, capped at each item’s declared maximum insured value, for customers who used PSA’s return shipping and insurance. PSA says it values cards using comps, auction results, grades and population data, uses broader historical data for rare cards, and will share its valuations with customers.
• Other cases: Customers who used their own return label work with a dedicated PSA team. Dealer submitters should go through their dealer.
• Recovery continues: If a card turns up later, the owner can choose to keep the payout or take the card back.

PSA has also deactivated the cert numbers of all stolen slabs, which makes them hard to sell without cracking them out.

Why it matters

The cap is the catch: PSA’s insurance pays up to the value you declared, so a card that comes back a 10, or a 1/1 declared at a low tier, can be worth far more than its payout. Many submitters pick lower tiers to keep fees down, and an upcharge after grading is common. That trade-off rarely matters until something goes wrong.

The theft has also shaken trust in shipping. Morgan Thomas, who was robbed at gunpoint after a California card show last year, launched Kapture, a searchable stolen-card database, in February. It sent alerts to subscribers about the PSA heist.

By the numbers

• 6,451: slabs stolen, per PSA
• ~20: true 1/1 cards on the list
• 202: Victor Wembanyama cards stolen, the most of any player
• 186: Michael Jordan cards
• 96: Cooper Flagg cards
• 86: Shohei Ohtani cards
• 82: Roman Reigns cards
• 30: Frank Viola cards, the most surprising name in the top 10
• $156,000: Bennett’s declared maximum insured value
• $8,467.60: grading fees Bennett paid, now refunded

What submitters should do

• Declare what the card could be worth, not what it’s worth now. If a card has a real shot at a 10, or it’s a 1/1, a low tier may leave you underinsured. Weigh the higher fee against that risk.
• Keep records. Save photos, purchase receipts and comps for each card so you can support a valuation if something is lost.
• Know whose insurance covers you. PSA’s return insurance, your own label, or a dealer’s submission each lead to a different claims path.
• Check your own coverage. A collectibles insurance policy may cover gaps that shipping insurance won’t.
• If you were hit, start now. PSA says payouts are already going out and that you can still choose to get your card back if it’s recovered.

Sources: Sports Collectors Digest (Oct. 26, 2026); Sports Illustrated Collectibles (Oct. 24, 2026)

Featured image: Photo by Thimo Pedersen on Unsplash