Shoplifters love Lego. The colorful plastic toy bricks are a goldmine for criminals

“It wasn’t a matter of if, but when, my store would be the next one hit.” It was an ominous prediction that came true for Miguel Zuniga last week.

Lego’s fanbase, which famously cuts across kids, teenagers and grownup collectors, is seeing some unsavory characters break into the mix, and for all the wrong reasons. Lego products, especially the pricier sets that range from over $100 to $1,000 or more, are being targeted for theft both by individual shoplifters and larger organized retail crime rings who make a beeline for sets sitting on store shelves because they can fetch a good profit at resale both in legal and illegal channels. Miguel Zuniga, who operates a Bricks & Minifigs Lego resale franchise store in Lumita, Los Angeles County, is still dealing with a break-in on June 18. The Lego heist happened around 5 am that Tuesday morning. “I was asleep, and the ADT security system gave me a call. Then my wife got a call. I went straight to the cameras and saw we were being robbed,” Zuniga told CNN. He got to his store within 10 minutes, but the burglars were gone – with about $5,000 to $7,000 of Legos, he estimates.