Is your Labubu real? A quick guide to spotting a Lafufu

If you have tried to buy a Labubu lately you know how things are: sold out everywhere, queues at POP MART stores and silly resale prices. And where there is a craze, there are chancers: the market is flooded with copies, so famous by now that they have their own name. A fake Labubu is called a Lafufu, and some are so badly made they are almost endearing.

Liking a Lafufu is no crime. The problem is paying full price for one without knowing. So here is what I would check before handing over any money.

1. Count the teeth (seriously)

The classic Labubu from The Monsters series has exactly nine teeth. Not eight, not ten. It is the most common giveaway in copies: too many teeth, too few, crooked ones or teeth glued on any old way. It is the fastest check there is and it almost never fails.

2. The QR code on the box

POP MART boxes carry a QR code and an authenticity sticker you can verify on the official POP MART website. If the QR leads nowhere, opens some odd site or simply is not there, bad sign. Look at the box itself too: originals have crisp printing and a matte finish. Blurry fonts or photocopy-bright colours give a Lafufu away from across the room.

3. The face and the paint

The original has a soft, clean colour gradient, well-centred eyes and a very particular cheeky grin. Copies tend to have a lost stare, paint smudges or that general air of "something is wrong with this creature". If it is a plush pendant, check the seams: straight and hidden on the original, all over the place on the copy.

4. The price

No mystery here: if someone sells you a Labubu for pocket change when it is sold out everywhere else, they are not doing you a favour, they are selling you a Lafufu. Nobody gives away what half the world is hunting for.

5. Where you buy it

Official POP MART stores, serious distributors, or shops that tell you clearly what you are buying. Be wary of private sellers using stolen catalogue photos and of websites with no return policy or contact details. We are quite insistent about that around here: every product page tells you what each thing is, and you have 14 days to return it by law.

What about buying a Lafufu on purpose?

Fun fact to finish: some people collect Lafufus deliberately, the shoddier the better. There are entire communities devoted to sharing the most disastrous fakes. If that is your thing, go for it, it is as worthy a hobby as any. All that matters is that nobody slips you one when you were paying for the real deal.

If you want to know where this whole craze comes from, we cover it in our blind box guide. And if you are after one of your own, have a look at the surprise box section, something drops in from time to time.