South Korea targets fake K-beauty surge as China spreads counterfeits to Europe

South Korea is launching a defense against counterfeit Korean beauty products as reports surface that Chinese-made fakes are reaching European markets. The move comes as Korea’s Customs Service found that 97.7% of counterfeit Korean-brand goods seized last year came from China, with cosmetics making up the largest category.

According to Korean customs, South Korean cosmetics exports reached US$7 billion in the first half of this year, with the US becoming the largest export market and European sales climbing sharply. 

With Western demand holding steady, the counterfeit industry has no shortage of opportunities to exploit the established trust in K-beauty products — and its distribution networks are following that of the authentic.

Romanian customs have seized fake Medicube items shipped from China at Timișoara Airport. According to industry sources, production facilities are concentrated in China’s Guangdong Province, and counterfeiters are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

The Romanian seizure raises alarms as Romania’s full entry into the Schengen Area grants goods cleared there full entry and free passage across European countries without additional border inspections.

The counterfeit problem extends beyond individual products to entire store concepts. In China, a beauty retailer called Only Young has opened stores that closely mimic South Korea’s Olive Young.

The Chinese chain copies the name, logo design, signature colors, and product displays of its K-beauty predecessor. The store also uses K-pop music in its promotional content for Douyin, a Chinese social media platform.

South Korea has responded to the problem by establishing a Counterfeit K-brand Reporting Center, which runs through the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency. The system allows consumers to report a suspected counterfeit found in overseas stores.

While cracking down on counterfeiters would help K-beauty brands maintain their profitability and trust, industry experts warn that chasing impersonators could ultimately be a futile fight and that K-brands must build brand authority instead.

Hunting fakes

South Korea’s state-backed authentication system allows people to report suspected counterfeits found in overseas stores, online platforms, or social media using a

South Korea is stepping up efforts to protect K-beauty brands from a growing global counterfeit trade.

QR code and location-based features. Reports are then reviewed for trademark similarity and consumer confusion.

The online system will register government-certified trademarks in over 70 countries. Its full deployment is scheduled for this October.

Korean authorities will be able to directly request criminal investigations, administrative searches, and customs seizures from foreign governments whenever the system alerts that fake certified products have been detected.

The initiative marks an escalation in the fight against counterfeit cosmetics, which have been flooding major e-commerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, and TikTok Shop.

Counterfeit cosmetics can divert sales away from legitimate brands and damage their reputations when consumers cannot distinguish between genuine and fake items. Counterfeit cosmetics also often evade national safety rules as they circulate outside of the law, raising health risks for consumers.

Korea’s counterfeit problem is intensifying. In 2025, authorities removed over 210,000 counterfeit items across all sectors. Over 36,000 were beauty products. The first half of 2026 has seen another 20,000 fake cosmetics intercepted.

To combat this, Korea has expanded formal partnerships with e-commerce platforms, now including major marketplaces like Temu, TikTok Shop, and Tokopedia, Indonesia’s leading e-commerce platform.

Proof is in the product

While the state-certified trademarks allow Korean authorities to act proactively instead of waiting for companies to report violations, industry experts argue that

Counterfeit cosmetics can undermine legitimate brands while exposing consumers to products that may evade national safety requirements.

chasing counterfeiters and seizing products does not solve the problem.

Michael Bender, international co-coordinator at the Zero Mercury Working Group, previously told Personal Care Insights that manufacturers of illegal cosmetics often reopen their e-commerce storefronts under new names and list the flagged products with altered spellings to delay further detection.

When enforcement shuts down one operation and the counterfeiters reboot, it creates a cycle that forces Korean companies to repeatedly spend money on international lawyers and litigation.

Building brand authority has emerged as a suggested solution. European luxury companies have protected their brands by creating a big value gap between genuine goods and counterfeits. While K-beauty’s convenient price positioning has been hailed as a factor fueling its expansion, controlled distribution and consistent quality could help lift it out of replicable territory.

K-beauty heavily relies on fast trends and competitive innovation, but it may need to improve its authentication technology, distribution tracking, and official sales networks to maintain growth.