The poodle whose ID went walkies on the web

The crime in question is online identity theft. And the victim is a prize-winning poodle.

Details of the two-year-old pedigree pet, named Afonwen Welch Fusilier, were posted on the internet by proud owner Lynne Day, 63, from Tremeirchion in North Wales.

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But a conman stole the details from the site and is passing the dog off as his own. He claims that Afonwen Welch Fusilier - pet name Blue - has given birth to puppies, despite being male.

The mystery man, who calls himself Henry Daf and whose registered address turns out to be a Glasgow graveyard, is touting the phantom puppies to potential buyers.

Pups in the Afonwen pedigree can fetch up to £1,000 each. The scam was spotted by Annette Connolly-Read, of Hounslow, West London, who was looking for a poodle on a dog sellers' website and came across the Afonwen pups.

She said: "I told them I was interested in a poodle and they came back with a message in broken English, saying they wanted to meet me and needed money up front.

"He gave me the details of the pedigree, and all I had to do was type in the kennel name on the Internet to find who actually owned it."

She alerted the dog's real owner, who said yesterday: "Anybody buying a dog on the internet needs to be aware of this. Some people will send the money up front, and that's how these people make their money." North Wales Police are investigating the scam.