Herefordshire seizes 85 counterfeit Labubu toys in crackdown

Herefordshire Trading Standards seized 85 counterfeit toys after a rise in complaints that included fake Labubu dolls, a clear sign that the market for Lafufus has moved beyond online chatter and into real-world shops. The problem is now showing up where collectors actually buy, including third-party sellers online and local stores, so price, packaging and labelling matter as much as the figure on the box.

The Herefordshire haul was part of a wider 2025 crackdown, not a one-off clean-up. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned in August that counterfeit Labubu dolls were spreading quickly in the UK and said trading-standards teams had already seized thousands of unsafe fakes in recent weeks. Fife Council said hundreds of counterfeit Labubu products had been taken from stores there, while North Tyneside Trading Standards later reported more than 2,000 fake dolls confiscated from 13 retailers in one month.

For buyers, the fastest warning sign is still the price. Welsh trading-standards authorities said fake Labubu dolls were often much cheaper than genuine ones, and a West End raid found 100 counterfeit dolls selling for around £20 each. Packaging is another giveaway: that raid turned up missing or non-compliant labelling, and the Office for Product Safety and Standards later flagged counterfeit Pop Mart Labubu Plush Toys with missing required markings and labels.

The safety warnings go beyond poor printing. On August 18, the product-safety watchdog said counterfeit Pop Mart Labubu Plush Toys posed a choking risk because the feet, hands and eyes could detach with minimum force. On October 1, another notice said counterfeit Popmart Labubu Have a Seat dolls carried a serious chemical risk because the plastic in the hands and feet contained excess phthalates, alongside the same choking concern.

That is why the Herefordshire seizure matters for the collection as much as for enforcement. Eighty-five counterfeit toys may sound like a local tally, but it sits inside a national pattern of complaints, seizures and recalls that has already reached stores, resellers and the West End. For anyone chasing a Labubu today, the safest purchase is the one that does not look suspicious before it ever leaves the seller’s hand.