.We're all aware that identity theft is a real problem. We've all been told to shred our personal documents before throwing them out and to keep our PIN details private so that unscrupulous people don't steal our identities and run us into debt by buying holidays to Mauritius and taking out loans in our name. We generally don't worry about our pets though. They don't have credit ratings, so we figured that their identities would be safe.
Perhaps our pets just aren't posh enough to worry about though. Poodle owner Lynne Day posted her prize-winning dog's details online, as Afonwen Welch Fusilier (also known as "Blue") had won prizes at both the Midlands Counties Canine Society Show and the North West Poodle Club, and Day wanted to show him off. She perhaps didn't realise that the details of a prize winning poodle are appealing to identity thieves.
Potential poodle purchaser Annette Connolly-Read spotted an ad posted online claiming that Blue had given birth and that there were puppies for sale. Observant readers, like Connolly-Read, will have noticed that Blue is male, and therefore unable to give birth. She contacted the police, and they're now investigating.
The man who placed the ad, who claims to be called Henry Daf and probably does not operate from the Glasgow graveyard his address is registered to, should probably check the gender of the animal identity he plans to steal next before offering puppies for sale. Or at least take a basic biology course. Remember, boys can't have babies.
Image taken from The Pack's Flickr photostream
