How to check if a PSA slab is stolen

PSA has deactivated every cert on its list of 6,451 items stolen from a FedEx truck in Santa Ana, California, on Oct 13, 2026 (PSA (opens in a new tab)). Some of those slabs will turn up for sale. Before you pay for a PSA slab, check its number against the list. It takes a few seconds.

Step 1: Look up the cert number

The cert number is printed on the slab's label. Type it into the checker above, or paste a whole list at once. The checker matches against PSA's own list of stolen certs, published on Oct 23 (PSA's list (opens in a new tab)).

Then look the same number up at psacard.com/cert (opens in a new tab). Mantel reports that the stolen certs show there as decertified (Mantel via Yahoo Sports (opens in a new tab)). A deactivated result on its own does not say why the cert was pulled, as CheckCOA has pointed out (CheckCOA on X (opens in a new tab)), so use both.

Step 2: Match the slab to PSA's record

Make sure the card in the slab is the card PSA describes for that cert: the year, the set, the card number, the player or character, and any variant or serial number. If the cert belongs to a different card, do not buy the slab.

Step 3: Ask where it came from

Ask the seller how and when they got the slab, and for a receipt, an order number or photos from when it was graded. Most of the stolen slabs are new cards: 72% are from the 2020s, by our count of PSA's list. A freshly graded modern slab with no history deserves a second look.

Stolen PSA slabs have been resold before. A Mantel writer found one of his own stolen PSA 10s as a hit in a repack, and another sold on Whatnot after its cert had been deactivated (Mantel (opens in a new tab)).

Step 4: Watch for cracked slabs

A cert check only works while the card is still in its slab. A thief can crack the card out and sell it raw, or send it in again for a new cert, and cards without serial numbers are the hardest to trace (Resell Calendar (opens in a new tab), Yahoo/Heavy (opens in a new tab)).

If you are offered a raw card, or a slab with a new cert, that matches a card on the list, search for it in our list of stolen cards and ask the seller for its history before you go further.

Step 5: Report it, and do not confront the seller

If a cert is on the list, do not buy the slab and do not confront the seller. Write down the cert number, the listing or the seller's name, and where you saw it. Then call the investigators. PSA's update gives these numbers for tips (PSA (opens in a new tab)):

Several news reports print 714-245-8665 for Santa Ana police instead. The city lists that number as the department's non-emergency line (City of Santa Ana (opens in a new tab)). We could not confirm which line police prefer for this case.

What a check can and cannot tell you

Our checker covers PSA's Oct 23 list of 6,451 certs from this theft and nothing else. A slab that is not on it can still be stolen from somewhere else, counterfeit or tampered with. A match means PSA has deactivated that cert. It does not mean the person selling the slab stole it, so leave that to the police.