The company posted the notice on its flagship beauty brand Medicube’s official website on May 28, in response to an increase in cases of consumer damage due to China-made counterfeit products in both local and international open markets.
Open markets refer to virtual malls where sellers and buyers can make direct online transactions. In Korea, the most widely used platforms are Gmarket, Auction, Interpark, and 11st. As the sales commission is lower than other e-commerce platforms, open markets have a lower entry barrier, particularly for new business owners.
According to APR Corp, sellers of counterfeit products are using the method of opening stores in open markets, and copying images and details from Medicube’s official site or distributors to disguise themselves as stores selling genuine products.
Counterfeit products that have been uncovered include Medicube’s polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) and collagen ranges that are especially popular in overseas markets — for example, PDRN Pink Peptide Ampoule, PDRN Pink Collagen Capsule Cream, PDRN Pink Collagen Exosome Shot, and Collagen Night Wrapping Mask.
Products that have been consistently well received since their release, such as Deep Vita C Capsule Cream and Zero Exosome Shot, have also been found to be counterfeited.
“The biggest problem with counterfeit products is that consumers do not know what kind of adverse effects they may have on their skin because they cannot accurately identify the ingredients contained in the product.
“In particular, it is difficult to identify the type and extent of harmful ingredients, so there is concern that there may be additional damage in addition to financial loss,” the firm said.
To address this issue, APR Corp emphasised on the importance of buying only from official sales channels and retailers, instead of unverified open markets.
Currently, Medicube products are sold at its official online mall, Naver Smart Store, Olive Young, and Kakao Gift, as well as its flagship stores in Hongdae and Apgujeong, and Hyundai Department Store (Pangyo Branch).
“The manufacturing and sale of counterfeit products is a malicious act that not only infringes on a company’s intellectual property rights and reduces trust in K-beauty, but also threatens consumers’ health. In order to prevent further damage, we urge you to make purchases only through official retailers.”
Spot the differences
APR Corp stated that counterfeit products not only use Medicube’s logo without permission, but their packaging and containers are also similar to genuine products, making it difficult for consumers to make a distinction.
However, the company has identified several key differences between authentic and fake products, such as spelling and grammatical errors in the product name and description.
For instance, for the counterfeit product of Collagen Night Wrapping Mask, the Korean characters for “collagen” are written as “golagen”.
In some products, the capacity is miswritten as “mi” instead of “ml”, and the manufacturing number and lot number on the container and package do not match.
Cosmetics sold in Korea are required to display the address of the manufacturer or distributor on the product packaging, as part of labelling regulations to ensure transparency and traceability.
It has been found in counterfeit products that the address indicated on the label does not exist in Korea.
In general, fake products tend to have poor product label layout and adhesiveness, and differences in packaging colour, Korean font, and word spacing, compared to genuine products.
