Bricks & Minifigs employee allegedly caught on hidden camera trying to pocket customer's rare $1,000 figure

One YouTuber's experience with Bricks & Minifigs' trade-in program has resurfaced following the recent Reckless Ben controversy, as he seemingly caught an employee of the store allegedly attempting to pocket a rare LEGO figure worth around $1,000.

The video, shared by popular LEGO YouTuber 'MGS BRICK', was originally recorded and published at the start of 2025 before it was removed by the social media platform and subsequently re-uploaded in April this year, just before the scandal involving $200,000 worth of 'stolen' sets emerged.

After seeing the price of LEGO skyrocket after the pandemic – in part due to the role that stores like Bricks & Minifigs (BAM) play in the collectable hobby – MGS BRICK launched his own investigation to see whether the employees operating BAM's trade-in program will be honest with you.

He took a random assortment of lego figurines to four separate Bricks & Minifigs stores, but the 'catch' was that within the collection were a number of rare items that are worth at least a few hundred dollars, alongside a 30th anniversary Chrome C-3PO that is worth a lot of money — often within the four-figure territory.

What did each store offer him in trade-in value?

While the value of the collection in total was $1,648.81 – with over half of that coming from the C-3PO figure alone – BAM's trade-in policy states that they tend to offer around half of the market value for store credit and even less for cash, as they need to cover expenses like rent and staff costs, alongside providing a profit margin.

You might not be surprised to discover that every store offered the YouTuber a significantly smaller sum than even half the overall value, although that wasn't always down to dishonesty.

Part of the trouble comes from the fact that employees often can't spot these rare figures among the rest, and their rarity (and subsequently their price) is tied to subtle defects compared to the original design that only a true enthusiast would have knowledge of.

The collection was worth over $1,600, but it's value was largely bolstered by a few rare figures (YouTube/MGS BRICK)

Additionally, MGS BRICK also ran into issues where the employees were unable to authenticate whether the more expensive figures were real or fake, leading to their price not counting towards the overall trade-in return.

Here are the percentage values he received in cash form from each of the four stores:

• Store 1: 18%
• Store 2: 6%
• Store 3: 19%
• Store 4: 10%

Not all of the stores handled the situation equally, with the third not only offering the highest price but also providing helpful advice when it comes to seeking out the true value of the figures from other websites.

His experience with the fourth store was less than stellar, however, as he appeared to catch an employee allegedly attempting to pocket the aforementioned C-3PO figure with his hidden camera glasses.

Employee mistakenly kept rare C-3PO figure

He sent his friend into the fourth and final store as it was his local one where they already know who he is. While the trade-in value was far from the lowest, it nearly came at a much higher cost as he quickly discovered that the rare C-3PO figure was missing from the collection after leaving the shop.

MGS BRICK made sure to check his car and properly go through the collection to ensure that it was missing, and afterwards went back into the store to confront the employee.

His rare Chrome C-3PO was missing from the collection after the trade-in, and it was found at the employee's desk (YouTube/MGS BRICK)

The employee then quickly retrieved the rare LEGO, claiming that he mistakenly forgot to place the figure back into the collection after completing the trade-in procedure, emphasizing in addition that it was definitely fake.

MGS BRICK tried to explain why this claim was wrong, arguing against the justification from the BAM employee, yet he was unwilling to budge while handing the figure back.

There was no indication that the employee was actually attempting to steal the rare figurine, as it could easily have been an error on his part in forgetting to add it back into the collection, but the recent controversy surrounding Reckless Ben and Bryan Mansell's 'stolen' collection only added further fuel to the fire.

Reckless Ben controversy explained

Beginning last month, the controversy involving YouTuber Ben "Reckless Ben" Schneider and Bricks & Minifigs involved claims surrounding $200,000 worth of allegedly stolen LEGO figures, which were consigned to a store in Salem, Oregon amidst changing ownership.

Schneider was called upon to investigate the missing LEGO by its original owner, Bryan Mansell – who was handling its sale on behalf of his 83-year-old father Ed – and his tactics left him in trouble with the law in arrests that he later speculated were unlawful.

The YouTuber operated a GoFundMe which raised over $450,000 in support of Mansell's claim, but the saga has recently come to a conclusion after fellow YouTube investigator Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findelsen offered his own evaluation of the situation.

It is deemed now that, while the situation as a whole was significantly mismanaged and Mansell is still owed a lot of money, the figures themselves were likely not stolen by either of the franchise owners.