On the lighter side of security, who would have thought that animals would become targets for identity theft?

According to the BBC, a dog breeder’s prize-winning poodle became the victim of identity theft. The pup’s pedigree details were posted online accidentally. A con-man then used the pedigree information to claim his own dog (using the poodle’s stolen credentials) had given birth to pedigree pups.

The identity theft came to light when a potential buyer noticed that the thief was trying to pass off his toy poodle puppies as standard poodles, under the stolen pedigree. With some digging, she was able to find the real owner and contact her. The police are now investigating the crime.

A Kennel Club spokeswoman advised breeders and owners against publishing full names and details of their dogs online.

She added: “You should only ever buy a dog or a puppy when you see it in the flesh.”

“If it is a puppy then you should be seeing it with its mother in the home in which it was born.”

Tags: identity theft, poodle, id theft, dog identity theft, poodle identity theft, stolen identity