A semi-truck driver discovered the theft during a pre-trip inspection at a Bennett truck stop.

BENNETT, Colo. — A high-dollar heist was discovered earlier this month involving the theft of thousands of Nintendo Switch 2 gaming consoles worth about $500 each.

The theft was reported around 8 a.m. June 8 at the Love’s Truck Stop at 1191 S. 1st St. in Bennett, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.

A semi-truck driver reported that during a pre-trip inspection, he discovered that his trailer had been broken into and newly released Nintendo Switch 2 consoles were missing.

“When deputies arrived, they did determine that 2,810 Nintendo Switch 2 Consoles were stolen out of the back of that trailer at some point,” said Anders Nelson, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.

The driver told deputies he was on route to a GameStop store in Grapevine, Texas, from Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington. He told deputies he did not know what was in the trailer, only that it was games or toys.

Thieves took multiple pallets full of the Nintendo Switch 2 consoles – no small haul.

“They retail at $499. The cost to Nintendo is just over $410. So either way you look at it, it’s well over $1 million worth of merchandise stolen,” Nelson said.

Steve Beaty, a computer science professor at MSU Denver, said not to expect those swiped Switches to show up on Craigslist or at pawn shops.

“Because they’re stolen, I would expect them to head to the dark web pretty quickly unless they’re shipped out of country,” Beaty said.

The anonymous spot to buy and sell is feeding a demand, Beaty said. It doesn’t take long on the dark web to spot low-cost Switch 2s.

“And it took me about two minutes to find Switches for sale,” Beaty said. “It’s half price.”

If you end up with a stolen switch, Beaty said, these devices each have a serial number that police and Nintendo can track.

When you log in, you have to register that number. That’s how you play games, get updates. Nintendo, he said, can then track down your device.

“Nintendo does have the capability of what we call bricking the device and that is to make it nonfunctional,” Beaty said.

Getting around that lockdown isn’t simple. You’d have to try and jailbreak it, essentially sidestepping those protections through coding, Beaty said, or avoid connecting to the internet altogether.

As deputies work to detect who cleared out these consoles, Beaty said if you too are on the hunt for a switch, stick to the shops you trust.

“They are pricey little devices. So if you’re not paying $500-$600 for one, you’re probably not getting the original. And of course, you certainly want to go through reputable dealers,” Beaty said.

Investigators aren’t sure whether the heist occurred in the Town of Bennett or in another city where the truck driver stopped.

If caught, the suspect(s) could face charges of felony theft valued at $1 million or more, as well as criminal mischief.