Japanese actress baffled by 'sheep-dog scam'

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

TOKYO (AFP) — No one was more surprised than Japanese film star Maiko Kawakami to hear that her fluffy poodle was really a lamb in disguise.

The actress on Tuesday denied foreign media reports that she had been the victim of a scam by tricksters importing lambs from Australia and Britain to sell as poodles to thousands of unsuspecting rich Japanese women.

News of the reported hoax reached as far as Britain, the United States and Australia before police and Kawakami quashed it as untrue.

The British tabloid The Sun reported that the scam came to light after Kawakami complained on a television talk show that her new poodle refused to bark or eat dog food and that she was devastated when told it was a lamb.

"Ms. Kawakami is very surprised by how much...