California police have managed to capture a thief who stole over $30,000 worth of Labubus, returning the snatched viral goods to the store following the bizarre heist.
When raking through a warehouse, thieves will typically target the same high value items including electronics, expensive accessories, and plain old cash, yet one sleuth decided to instead target the viral dolls that have captured the attention of social media all summer long.
Thankfully police have managed to capture the blind box bandit after they nabbed an incredibly valuable stash and have returned the goods to their original owner, but this strange robbery only shows quite how much the value of certain items can be inflated by virality on social media.
As reported by the New York Post, over $30,000 worth of Labubu dolls were recovered by California police after they were found at a home in Chino, a suburb of San Bernadino County.
What are Labubus?
If you've been living under a rock and somehow have no idea what a Labubu is, they are strange and arguably ugly fluffy dolls made recognizable by their often wide-eyed stare and spiky teeth-filled grin.
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They come in a number of different colors, expressions, and 'themes', making it so that certain types of Labubu are more popular and desirable than others.
Labubus have become an incredibly popular commodity for collectors and fashion enthusiasts — especially after a number of high profile celebrities, including Dua Lipa and Blackpink's Lisa, have been spotted with the dolls attached to their handbags.
People can either buy their favorite versions outright – with figures for some of the rarest and most popular easily stretching beyond the $500 mark – or they can try their luck in 'blind boxes' worth around $28, where you don't know what one you're getting until you open the package.
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These have proven to be incredibly popular on TikTok, where people share videos of their reactions to blind box openings, and is part of the reason why the dolls have become such a craze online.
Where were the Labubus stolen from?
Their current high market value is precisely why the thieves were happy to pass over various electronics and even loose cash in the warehouse in favor of the dolls, and it appears as if a large amount of the stock was stolen from popular store One Stop Sales, who shared their recovered goods in an Instagram post.
"Thank you to industry sheriffs department for helping us recover some of our items," the post from the store wrote, adding that the "case is still under investigation right now, no further comment, will be updating if they find more of our items."
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This appears to suggest that there are more Labubus on the loose in another hidden location, but it is alleged that the thieves were planning to offload the dolls for an inflated price across the United States.