Paddy Chan Yiu-kwong said it is hard to authenticate products sold through the internet, although he admitted that has not stopped more Hongkongers from buying items online.

"Online sellers usually claim their products are real. Since buyers have to pay for the goods up front, they will not know whether or not the product is real until it arrives. Sellers usually avoid direct contact with buyers," Chan said.

Figures released by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong also showed only a small percentage of complaints filed against fake products bought online have been resolved.

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DAB economic development spokeswoman Lee Wai-king said 1,030 complaints over fake products were sent to the Customs and Excise Department in the two years up to September.

So far only 77 cases - or fewer than 7.5 percent - have been resolved, she added.

Most duped buyers do not even bother to report the cases to authorities, Chan said.

He said Yahoo has a monopoly on the local online auctions market with more than 30,000 active users.

"Our searches found that nearly 8,000 Louis Vuitton items and 7,000 Gucci products sold at cheap prices on internet auctions were suspect."

DAB deputy spokesman Danny Chan Chung-cheung said one buyer had complained on January 31 that a handbag bought from an online auction seller called "mimi20101010" was fake.

"This seller offered almost 200 Louis Vuitton handbags at HK$99 each, while claiming to guarantee the quality of items sold," Chan said.

He said the seller is still active online, proof of the inability of the Customs and Excise Department and the police force to stop the practice, he added.

Since Yahoo does not require sellers to provide identity documents, online auctions have become a platform for illegal operators, Chan said.

Lee urged buyers to carefully check the past transaction records of the sellers and request face-to-face meetings before depositing their money.