Lil Uzi Vert found himself in the middle of a stolen puppy case in Pennsylvania -- but he's not the wanted dognapper, and it sounds like cops didn't do their due diligence.
The rapper's photo appeared Thursday in a Facebook post from the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department alerting the public to a puppy that had been taken from a pet store.
Problem is ... Lil Uzi Vert is NOT the suspect.
Cops have since taken down the post with Uzi's photo and replaced it with a different man with face tatts -- who is the actual suspect accused of swiping a pooch from Brookside Pups.
The Uzi version lived on the internet for about 30 minutes -- enough time for the FB post to be flooded with comments about the Philly artist.
So why the confusion? Brookside Pups tells TMZ ... the guy who allegedly grabbed a puppy and fled Thursday afternoon has Lil Uzi Vert's face as his profile picture on a social media account, which they sent to cops.
Police are blaming the pet store for providing them with the photo of Lil Uzi Vert.
Brookside Pups says police took down the photo once they realized the face tattoos on Lil Uzi Vert didn't match the suspect's. The store sent a new photo for cops to share.
Roc Nation says Uzi was nowhere near Philly at the time and the incident has left them fuming ... telling us, "The Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department should be embarrassed and ashamed for disparaging [Uzi's] character. This grave error could’ve had significant repercussions on Uzi’s career and epitomizes how Black men can be wrongfully charged and arrested by police departments across the country."
And just in case anyone's got it twisted, they add ... "Uzi loves all animals and this serious mistake has deterred the apprehension of the kidnapper. Our collective hope is that the puppy is safely and promptly rescued."
Police say the alleged dognapper was last seen driving toward Uzi's hometown of Philadelphia ... making for another strange twist.