It seems that identity thieves have tired of humans and are starting to target the canine world.

A scammer stole the details of Afonwen Welch Fusilier, the two year-old winner of last year's Midlands Counties Canine Society Show and the North West Poodle Club, from a website.

He then put out advertising claiming that the dog had had puppies and offering them for sale for up to £1,000 each.

However, the advertisements were spotted as fakes by an alert dog breeder who checked out the ad.

"I said I was interested in a poodle and they came back with a message in very poor English saying they wanted to meet me and needed money upfront," Annette Connolly-Read, of Hounslow in London, told the North Wales Daily Post.

"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.

"He also sent some really tatty pictures of the dog, which obviously were not his. They were also toy poodles, not standard poodles as they should have been. "

Another giveaway was that the thief failed to notice that Afonwen Welch Fusilier is in fact male, and the address he gave for his 'kennel' was a Glasgow graveyard.

"Anybody buying a dog on the internet needs to be aware of this," said the dog's real owner Lynne Day.

"Some people will send the money up front, and that is how these people make their money. The thing that upsets me most is that a crime has been committed in my name and I have had nothing to do with it."

North Wales police are investigating the scam.