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More than 8m fake and harmful toys have been seized from shops and markets across the EU in a pre-Christmas crackdown, Europol has said.
Hauls of fake dolls, building bricks, toy cars, colouring sets, cuddly toys that could pose fire hazards and educational games were removed across 26 countries.
The operation is the second in two years and brings the number of counterfeit toys seized by authorities to almost 17m, most of them from China. Europol, which coordinated the raids, said most of the toys seized “completely evaded the EU’s strict rules on products” intended for children.
They included fake toys “that can cause asphyxiation, suffocation, drowning, cuts, burns and exposure to chemical substances” in fabrics that are not legally compliant and forever chemicals that can be carcinogenic, the police authority said.
“Some pose choking hazards and could be ingested, while others may damage children’s hearing or sight,” it added.
Among the goods were card games, dolls, fidgeting toys, accessories, action figures, plastic construction toys and floating toys. The haul ranged from “fakes that are almost indistinguishable from the real products, to obvious fakes ripping off the known brands,” said a spokesperson.
Europol urged parents to be vigilant when it came to Christmas shopping and to restrict buying to trusted retailers, online and on the high street.
Tell-tale signs can be the absence of the warning signs, safety labels and safety instructions in relation to the risk of fabrics catching on fire.
Shoppers should be particularly wary of toys of characters from popular TV shows that are not sold in trusted shops, as these were popular choices for counterfeiters, said Europol in a lengthy report on the crackdown, called Operation Ludus.
Counterfeiters typically use low quality batteries that carry a fire hazard, produce clothes for toddlers with draw strings longer than EU standards that could cause trip hazards and ribbons on clothing that carry a risk of strangulation.
Europol also warned that the Chinese fakes could contain small parts that easily fall off and could be swallowed, such as magnets.
The law enforcement agency said: “China remains the main origin country of counterfeit toys marketing in the EU.” Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey are often used as a transit route with commercial warehouses leased for the stock.
The raids underline the EU and the UK’s continuing battle to prevent sub-standard quality goods coming in on platforms such as Shein.
The European Commission ramped up pressure on China’s Shein on Wednesday, saying the online platform might pose a “systemic risk” for consumers and demanding more information from the company after illegal items were found for sale on its marketplace.
Europol’s swoop across 26 countries was led by investigators in France, Spain and Romania.
Europol said Operation Ludus shows that criminal networks see profit in low-cost goods and not just the high-end market, which can include fake designer handbags, perfume and makeup.
“Toys are continuously targeted because of their variety and popularity,” the agency said, with online crime “increasingly nurtured”.
This summer, the EU justice commissioner expressed shock at the toxicity and dangers of some goods being sold by Shein and Temu, amid a crackdown on the popular Chinese retail platforms.
With 12m low-value parcels each day coming into the EU from online retailers outside the bloc, Michael McGrath has vowed to crack down on the sale of goods that blatantly break the law.
Among the worst examples McGrath came across were baby soothers with beads that fall off easily, which pose a choking hazard because they do not have the regulation-size hole to enable a baby who did swallow one accidentally to continue to get air.
Other goods cited by MEPs in a report released this month include children’s raincoats with toxic chemicals and sunglasses with no UV filter.
