Thousands of Japanese Learn Their Poodles Are Actually Sheep

No, seriously. There's this outfit in Japan called Poodles as Pets, which imported sheep and sold them to people as poodles, for only $1,600, which is half the price of real poodles in Japan.

They imported sheep and sold them to people as poodles. And what's more, the pet owners didn't know the difference:

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.

Like they say, truth is stranger than fiction. I mean, you couldn't make stuff like this up if you tried. Now, next question: can you name me any other country on earth, besides Japan, where something like this could be pulled off on a large scale?

(h/t Steven)