China clamps down on fake Labubus
Labubu dolls have taken the world by storm. But now, fake Labubus, or Lafufus, are the latest trend that China is grappling with.
Image by Cybernews
Labubu dolls have taken the world by storm. But now, fake Labubus, or Lafufus, are the latest trend that China is grappling with.
The world has seemingly gone crazy over furry little toy monsters, which celebrities are clipping to their bags and wearing as accessories.
Labubus have captured the hearts of consumers, but there’s a knock-off version, called Lafufus, that is slowly becoming a fan favourite.
However, Lafufus aren’t favoured by China, which is clamping down on the trade of fake Labubus.
At Chinese customs offices across the nation, roughly 11,000 batches of fake products, making up almost 39 million pieces, have been seized by authorities, China’s CCTV reports. Among these counterfeit goods are the popular little monster dolls.
Customs in various parts of China reportedly announced the seizure of 49,000 Lafufus, The Washington Post reports.
Pop Mart has reportedly filed an application to trademark “Lafufu” to deter fake sellers, according to Chinese media.
China’s official broadcaster has even issued guidelines on how to spot a fake Labubu, saying that due to a molding problem, Lafufus's teeth may be misshapen.
The real dolls tend to have nine sharp teeth, whereas the fake versions tend to have fewer.
Thousands of counterfeit Labubus have been seized in this crackdown, but social media users across the world seem to have fallen in love with their little Lafufus.
Across social media platforms like X, users have been raving about their own knock-off little monsters.
People have been seen dressing up their Lafufus in little outfits or giving their counterfeit monsters a makeover.
look at how i dressed my lafufu bc he deserves equal love to my labubus pic.twitter.com/RMwniUQ0vc
undefined fio (@fioretteee) July 21, 2025
Users have shown that Lafufus can be bought, or won, anywhere, even at arcades.
reached my lowest point and spent 2 hours and £50 winning a lafufu on 2p machines at the beach when i cant stand the fuckers pic.twitter.com/Mb7gujleSU
undefined cait (@TORTUREDP0ET13) July 23, 2025
According to one X user, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the Netherlands was selling fake Labubus.
So @albertheijn, the biggest supermarkt brand in Netherlands, was selling Lafufu. You know, the FAKE Labubu. I mean... how?
undefined Maurice ➡️ Gamescom 25 🇩🇪 (@MauriceVeschuur) July 22, 2025
The post on Instagram is deleted. pic.twitter.com/0ucSIzPKTu
The world has gone mad for these little monsters
The Pop Mart collectibles were created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung as one of several characters in his Nordic-inspired series.
A collaboration with Pop Mart led to the first Labubu collection in 2019, but it wasn’t until 2024 that the monster really took off.
Cybernews previously reported that Labubus became popular due to Lisa from the K-pop band Blackpink, who frequently shared the figurines on her Instagram stories.
Other celebrities, including singers Rihanna and Dua Lipa, started incorporating Labubus into their outfits, cementing the doll’s cult fashion status.
The Labubu craze got so out of hand that people were seen queuing around stores selling Labubus before dawn in cities from Paris to Los Angeles, with adult fans camping outside just for a chance to unbox a rare toy from its blind package.
In certain instances, store security had to get involved to stop people from physically fighting over the figurines.