Avoid the Lafufu! How to Tell When a Labubu Is Fake

Whether you’re shopping for your first Labubu or just picked one up, you’ve probably heard there’s a counterfeit version of this sought-after fluffy toy figure keychain floating around.

Labubus come in various sizes and styles, and they’re not exactly cheap, so it can be tricky to tell the real ones from the knockoffs. While price might be a major clue, there are other ways to identify an authentic Labubu versus a fake.

Here, we’ll focus on the most popular style: the Monsters Series. This way, you can avoid wasting $60 or more on a knockoff, or confirm that your own Labubu is legit so you don’t end up walking around with a “Lafufu” hanging from your purse or backpack.

The easiest way to tell a real Labubu from a fake is to start by checking the feet. A genuine Labubu will have a Pop Mart logo printed in black on the bottom of its left foot.

The other foot should have a silhouette that glows under UV light, a detail highlighted during an episode of This Morning.

As for the fake, known as a Lafufu, it might still have a Pop Mart logo on the foot, but it’ll likely be the same color as the foot material, making it harder to see. Some counterfeit Labubus also come with a tag sticking out from the top but without a keychain attached, though some fakes do include keychains.

If you see a Labubu for sale with both a tag and keychain, check that the tag says “THE MONSTERS” on both the front and back.

Most fake Labubus won’t have the words on the back of the tag.

Another thing to watch for is the QR code on the white tag sticking out from the side of the Labubu. Authentic ones include a QR code that you can scan to verify the toy on the Pop Mart website. The fake tags might say Pop Mart but won’t have the QR code.

Sometimes counterfeiters include the QR code only on the box, which is a dead giveaway that you’ve got a fake.

Attention to detail is another big indicator. Many fake Labubus from places like AliExpress have paint misaligned on the teeth, while the real ones have clean paintwork. The eyes on fakes often also don’t look aligned, whereas the authentic ones have eyes that look natural.

Packaging can also help, though the differences between real and fake are subtle. If you want to be sure, consider watching a credible YouTuber or TikToker do a side-by-side comparison of real vs. fake packaging. If you’re wondering why there’s so much attention being put on Labubu’s and spotting real ones from fakes, it's because the toy blew up in 2025 thanks to stars like Rihanna and BLACKPINK's Lisa rocking them on their handbags.

With this hype and the company’s success, counterfeiters have jumped in to cash in.

What’s interesting is that the brand has been around for years. It wasn’t until the creator, Kasing Lung, teamed up with Pop Mart in 2019 to release more series that Labubu really started getting noticed, and since then, it’s only gone uphill, according to NPR.

To make sure your hard-earned money goes toward a real Labubu, consider buying directly from the Pop Mart website, the Pop Mart shop on Amazon (just be sure the seller is listed as Pop Mart), or a TikTok shop that’s a verified Pop Mart seller.

eBay and other resale sites might have genuine Labubus, but you’re taking a risk, so ask for multiple photos of the item before buying. As for sites like AliExpress, they tend to carry the knockoff versions, so be cautious.