Japanese fooled in poodle scam

[Antmeister]

Please tell me this is a joke:

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/japanese-fooled-in-poodle-scam/20075926-9pk.html


Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Flocks of sheep were imported to Japan and then sold by a company called Poodles as Pets, marketed as fashionable accessories, available at $1,600 each.

That is a snip compared to a real poodle which retails for twice that much in Japan.

The scam was uncovered when Japanese moviestar Maiko Kawamaki went on a talk-show and wondered why her new pet would not bark or eat dog food.

She was crestfallen when told it was a sheep.

Then hundreds of other women got in touch with police to say they feared their new "poodle" was also a sheep.

One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves.

Japanese police believe there could be 2,000 people affected by the scam, which operated in Sapporo and capitalised on the fact that sheep are rare in Japan, so many do not know what they look like.

"We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company were selling sheep as poodles," Japanese police said, the The Sun reported.

"Sadly we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

"The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain, Australia."

Many of the sheep have now been donated to zoos and farms.

[NoMyths]

hahahahahaha

[Ksyrup]

Those Nigerians are getting clever.

[Critch]

I don't see the problem, I'd much rather have a sheep than a stupid poodle.

[st.cronin]

I don't see the problem, I'd much rather have a sheep than a stupid poodle.

+1

I'm amused that they complained about the animals NOT barking.

[Draft Dodger]

I don't see the problem, I'd much rather have a sheep than a stupid poodle.

pervert

[gstelmack]

Seriously, how could you press charges against this company? This has to be one of the best fraud scams ever.

[sabotai]

" One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves."


Hahahahahaha

[14ers]

I wonder how they were brought into the country; as Pets or Livestock?

[Antmeister]

" One couple said they became suspicious when they took their "dog" to have its claws trimmed and were told it had hooves."


Hahahahahaha

That line kills me. I don't care if one hadn't known what sheep looked like, but does it really look like a poodle, or any dog for that matter. Or is it possible I am just looking at the wrong breed of sheep. I am still trying to figure out what type of sheep were used for this scam.

http://www.babyanimalz.com/images/baby_sheep01.jpg

[rkmsuf]

I want to know what type of human was used for this scam.

[Antmeister]

And the story gets even better in which how this error first came to light:

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=46730&in_page_id=34

Dog owners 'fleeced' in poodle scam

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04/lambPA_450x200.jpg

Thousands of people have been 'fleeced' into buying neatly coiffured lambs they thought were poodles.

Entire flocks of lambs were shipped over from the UK and Australia to Japan by an internet company and marketed as the latest 'must have' accessory.

But the scam was only spotted after a leading Japanese actress said her 'poodle' didn't bark and refused to eat dog food.

Maiko Kawakami, who starred in the Japanese thriller Violent Cop, showed photographs of her pet on a television talk show only to be told it wasn't a dog - but was in fact a lamb.

The discovery prompted hundreds of women to contact the police with similar problems and the authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned.

'We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,' a police spokesman told The Sun.

'Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.

'The sheep are believed to have been imported from overseas - Britain and Australia.'

Poodles are famously used by the rich and glamorous on the continent but are extremely rare in Japan, with many people having little idea what they look like.

The company, which translates as Poodles as Pets, sold the 'poodles' for £630, about half the cost of a normal poodle but is now understood to have been shut down.

[rkmsuf]

Suddenly Paris Hilton seems semi intelligent.

[Ksyrup]

That was in the original article. In fact, they get props for using the word 'crestfallen' in a news article.

[vex]

wow..

[Celeval]

Awesome.

[Antmeister]

That was in the original article. In fact, they get props for using the word 'crestfallen' in a news article.

Good point.

[Desnudo]

Suddenly Paris Hilton seems semi intelligent.

I don't think that Paris Hilton could have pulled off "Violent Cop," so cut the girl some slack.

[bulletsponge]

LOL this is so funny. i hate poodles with a passion, and i hate the snobby women who walk around treating these "dogs" as if they were children. anyone dumb enough to pay 1600 dollars for a dog doesnt deserve that money in the first place. they dont even know what a poodle is but they will pay the money to be shiek and fashonable, dumb bi**h.

whats funny is i hardly even consider this a con. if the people wernt told it was a lamb, they would have gone thru thier whole life happy to have the "poodle" as a status symbol. it isnt like this was a cleverly made knock off

[Bad-example]

When questioned, the owner of one of the accused companies, Harold Lamb, responded to the allegations with a single word: "Baah!"

[st.cronin]

I find it amazing that POODLES are more expensive than sheep.

[bulletsponge]

When questioned, the owner of one of the accused companies, Harold Lamb, responded to the allegations with a single word: "Baah!"

his last name is Lamb! lol too funny

[Neon_Chaos]

I haven't seen a sheep in my entire life. :(

[Neon_Chaos]

I would think it's understandable that Japanese urbanites could be conned into being sold the lambs passed off as poodles.

[Wolfpack]

I would think it's understandable that Japanese urbanites could be conned into being sold the lambs passed off as poodles.

All well and good, but you'd think the prospective owners would, you know, do a little research and perhaps actually recognize what a poodle looks like, regardless of whether there are an abundance of sheep in Japan or not.

This story just blows my mind....

[AZSpeechCoach]

When you look out your window in Tokyo, you count how many sheep you see being walked by a Japanese woman. Then you can talk to me. Welcome to Hollywood!

[Groundhog]

Looks like it was everyone who read the original article who got fleeced. I personally can't believe anyone bought this in the first place...

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21629305-2,00.html

[Antmeister]

Looks like it was everyone who read the original article who got fleeced. I personally can't believe anyone bought this in the first place...

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21629305-2,00.html

Damn it. I checked on Snopes and found nothing. Then I read 3 articles on this, so I assumed it was true. Oh well.....I have been fleeced and I will eat lamb over this.

[Neon_Chaos]

Please tell me this is a joke

It is. :cool:

[Groundhog]

Damn it. I checked on Snopes and found nothing. Then I read 3 articles on this, so I assumed it was true. Oh well.....I have been fleeced and I will eat lamb over this.

Aye, I checked snopes this morning too and found nothing surprisingly, but I distinctly recall reading something very similar a few years ago, substituting Japan for some other nation and the sheep for some other animal. I e-mailed it to a Japanese friend of mine and he told me that he'd be surprised if there were even 1% of Japanese people who didn't know what a sheep looked like, let alone confusing them with a poodle.

[Groundhog]

dola

That it was the Sun in the UK that first reported this is a major warning flag, too. The amount of articles that end up on fark from the Sun containing wierd stories that then wind up in a ton of papers afterwards (all using the Sun as the original source) has me thinking that the Sun likes to have a bit of fun now and then.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

I wonder if you can still get recently worn panties in vending machines over there.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Apparently, as of 2005, yes.

http://www.snopes.com/risque/kinky/panties.htm

[bulletsponge]

awww. looks like someone sold me a sheep poodle ;(

[MJ4H]

I checked on Snopes and found nothing.

Snopes is on the case now
http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/poodlesheep.asp

[albionmoonlight]

Fooled me hook, line, and sinker.

I even forwarded on the link to friends and family.

[Bee]

Do we need to change the thread title to "FOFC fooled in fake poodle scam"? ;)

[Butter]

First Faith No More is coming back, now this? Can you people not do some fact checking before posting? I mean, c'mon.

[Desnudo]

I'm disapointed this isn't true at a level way out of proportion to what it should be.

[sterlingice]

Beautiful fake, tho. That was funny as hell. :D

SI

[Drake]

Sometimes I hate snopes.

[Ksyrup]

If Paul Harvey said it, it must be true.

[Hurst2112]

copycat thread would be:

Japanese food is poodle, scam