Hong Kong Customs Counterfeit Cosmetics Case: The Record

In short: Hong Kong Customs counterfeit cosmetics cases are criminal matters under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, with a maximum penalty of an HKD 500,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment.

In the case below, officers raided five shops in Sheung Shui and Yuen Long in March 2025, seized about 9,000 suspected counterfeit perfumes, cosmetics and skincare items worth about HKD 2 million, and arrested five people.

Everything here comes from the government press release, issued on 21 March 2025¹. The release does not name the shops, the brands or the people arrested, and neither do we. We have not found a later press release reporting a court outcome for this case, so we do not describe one.

Hong Kong Customs counterfeit cosmetics case: the record

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Process: how the case unfolded

The release describes three stages.

1. Detection. Customs had been inspecting shops in various districts and detected the sale of counterfeit cosmetic products at some shops in Sheung Shui and Yuen Long.
2. Investigation with trademark owners. Officers carried out what the release calls comprehensive investigations, with the assistance of the trademark owners. This is the usual pattern in Hong Kong counterfeit cases: the brand owner helps confirm whether goods are genuine.
3. Raids. On 11 and 13 March officers raided five retail shops and seized a batch of suspected counterfeit perfumes, cosmetic products and skincare products.

The offence is defined in the Trade Descriptions Ordinance (Cap. 362)². Customs is the enforcement agency. Note what the offence covers: selling or possessing for sale. A retailer does not need to have made a sale to be exposed; holding the stock for sale is enough under the ordinance as Customs summarises it.

Result: what the record shows, and what it does not

The release reports five arrests and a preliminary safety test. Samples went to the Government Laboratory, and the preliminary result showed no heavy metals above the allowed limit. That point matters for reading the case correctly: the offence here is about the forged trademark, not about whether the product was unsafe.

The release does not report charges, pleas or sentences. We checked for a follow-up and did not find one, so we leave the result as the release states it: investigation ongoing at the time of publication.

For context, other Customs releases on cosmetics follow the same structure. These figures are copied from the releases, and none of them reports a court outcome:

Swipe sideways to see the whole table.

Three checks for buyers and resellers

The release itself gives the starting point. Customs tells consumers to buy from reputable shops and to check with the trademark owners or their authorised agents when authenticity is in doubt, and tells traders to be cautious and prudent in merchandising because they face criminal liability. For a business buyer, that becomes three checks:

1. Find out who owns the trademark. A mark registered in Hong Kong can be looked up in the Intellectual Property Department’s online search; a Korean mark can be looked up in KIPRIS. Knowing the owner tells you whom to ask when you have doubts. See Hong Kong trademark registration and KIPRIS trademark search.
2. Know which channel your supplier is in. Goods bought outside a brand’s authorised network can still be genuine, but you should know which kind of supply you are buying. Our parallel import vs authorised distributor comparison explains the difference.
3. Keep the paper trail. Ask for invoices and shipping documents that tie each batch to its source, and keep them with the stock. If a question arises later, documents are what you can show.

Suspected counterfeiting can be reported to Customs on its 24-hour hotline 182 8080, by email to [email protected], or through the online form named in the release.

Related pages

SEONGWOO GLOBAL is a Korean cosmetics wholesale exporter with companies in Seoul and Hong Kong. If you are planning to stock Korean cosmetics in Hong Kong, our FAQ explains how we work, and you can ask us about documents for any order.

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