Global demand for Labubus, the cute-ugly plush elf dolls embraced by celebrities like Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and David Beckham, has led to a flood of counterfeits that reveal a dark and dangerous side of the toy business.
The dupes are known as Lafufus, presumably because of their fake nature, and they, too, have fans who make up a subculture of the wider craze. But the fakes have alarmed buyers, consumer protection agencies and customs officials on multiple continents, as well as Pop Mart, the Chinese company that has been making Labubus since 2019.
Not only have they generated consumer complaints, but officials have also flagged safety risks and potentially hazardous chemicals linked to Lafufus.
The real collectibles took off after the K-pop star Lisa of Blackpink was seen on social media carrying little Labubus on her bag and hugging a big one last year. The Labubu craze has caused Pop Mart’s sales to surge, with revenue for the first half of the year amounting to more than $1.9 billion, surpassing revenue for all of 2024, the company said last week.
That success has been fueled by the way some of the dolls are sold. They often arrive in “blind boxes,” so that buyers don’t know what they will find inside. That generates excitement as unboxing videos amass on social media. But the element of mystery has made it easier for fakes to flood the market.
In Britain, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, a nonprofit organization that works with the government on consumer protection issues, put out “an urgent warning” this month about the rise in sales of counterfeit Labubus. It said that the fakes were “poorly made in unsafe manufacturing premises” and might contain hazardous chemicals that “can cause lifetime damage to a child’s organs.”
The institute said its teams had seized thousands of dolls from stores in England and Scotland, partly based on tips from parents. It added that it was investigating the glut of counterfeits in connection with organized crime groups.
In July, news media in Cyprus reported that customs officials had conducted raids targeting counterfeit Labubus across the island, pulling more than 1,300 fake dolls and products from stores. They similarly warned of safety risks, the reports said.
Last week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said it had ordered the seizure of thousands of units of counterfeit dolls at ports, warning that Lafufus violate a ban on small parts for children under 3 years old, “break apart easily” and pose “a serious risk of choking and death.”
The Better Business Bureau also issued a warning about the fakes after grievances piled up on its “scam tracker.” As of Tuesday, a search on the tracker for “Labubu” yielded more than 100 complaints, including a grandparent who had unwittingly sent a granddaughter fakes for her birthday.
Some complaints also highlighted the dangers that consumer groups had raised, including a person from Virginia who on Saturday wrote about receiving six dolls from a seller purporting to offering genuine Labubus. They were all defective, with one arriving without one of its hands. A person in California wrote on Aug. 12 that a scammer had promised real Labubus but sent “broken toys.”
The Chinese customs authorities have said they are working to stem the tide of fakes. In June, they confiscated more than 200,00 counterfeit Labubu products. Last month, they reported almost daily seizures, amounting to tens of thousands of dolls.
The mania for the monster characters, which were created in 2015 by Kasing Lung, an artist born in Hong Kong and raised in the Netherlands, has prompted Pop Mart to police its intellectual property aggressively.
Pop Mart’s subsidiary in Singapore sued 7-Eleven and some of its stores in federal court in California last month, accusing the chain, which helps franchisees stock their locations, of intellectual property law violations.
The complaint, which 7-Eleven must reply to next month, seeks damages and fees, and demands that the franchise shut down the sales. 7-Eleven did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Pop Mart appears to be trying to capture the Lafufu trend to defend its original brand. According to Sixth Tone, a Chinese state-owned publication, the company applied in July for a trademark for the “Lafufu” name in China.
But some collectors on TikTok saying Labubu mania is already fading, meaning demand could fizzle before the company manages to take control of the tide of fakes.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
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