Move over, old Funny Hall of Fame, there’s a new kid (ferret) in town:

Gullible bargain hunters at Argentina’s largest bazaar are forking out hundreds of dollars for what they think are gorgeous toy poodles, only to discover that their cute pooches are in fact ferrets on steroids.

One retired man from Catamarca, duped by the knock-down price for a pedigree dog, became suspicious he had bought what Argentinians call a ‘Brazilian rat’ and when he returned home took the ‘dogs’ to a vet for their vaccinations.

Imagine his surprise when his suspicious were confirmed – he had in fact purchased two ferrets that had been given steroids at birth to increase their size and then had some extra grooming to make their coats resemble a fluffy toy poodle.

This, the story goes on to say, has been called an urban legend for some time, but they now apparently have proof that there are actually ferrets being sold as poodles. And as this person tweets:

@inflatedKarma added: ‘If you don’t know the difference between a toy poodle and a ferret on steroids you probably deserve to get ripped off.’

Hey, aren’t this poodle’s legs kinda short? No! This is a short-legged, pointy-nosed poodle! Very special kind!

• La Salada: South America’s biggest black market

• And if that’s true, that Argentinians call ferrets “Brazilian rats”—that’s pretty funny. (Although Brazlians probably don’t think so.)