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** In "Partners In Crime", Michael tries to obtain information on his burn notice from Polish Intelligence and he tries to approach a local member by pretending to be a Russian spy out to bribe him for useless facts. The Polish spy pretends to fall for Michael's faked bribery long enough to go someplace private, draws a gun on Michael, and makes clear that he's a hard-core patriot (he's half-Russian and has had to struggle with proving it all of his life, [[BerserkButton so Mike just made him a bit angry]]) and he's going to interrogate Michael for intel [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique in a very painful fashion]] and then eliminate him. [[BigDamnHeroes Fiona ends up having to save Mike's ass as a result]].

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** In "Partners In Crime", Michael tries to obtain information on his burn notice from a Polish Intelligence officer, and he tries to approach a local member the man by pretending to be posing as a Russian spy "businessman" out to bribe him for useless harmless facts. The Michael thinks that since the Polish spy pretends has Russian heritage, this (fake) [[CommonalityConnection shared connection]] might make the Pole more open to fall for cooperating with him. The man appears to believe Michael's faked bribery long enough story, and seems to be going along with Michael's attempt to bribe him... then the moment the two go someplace private, he draws a gun on Michael, Michael and makes it clear that he's a hard-core patriot (he's half-Russian Polish patriot, and has had Michael's attempt to struggle with proving it all of appeal to his life, Russian heritage [[BerserkButton so Mike just made him a bit angry]]) infuriates him]], since bad relations between Poland and Russia mean he has spent most of his life having to prove his loyalty to Poland and the last thing he's going to do is take a bribe from a Russian, no matter how harmless the information being bought might be. It's safe to say Michael would have had a better chance of success if he had approached the man with ''literally'' any other story. The Pole makes it clear that he's going to interrogate Michael for intel [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique in a very painful fashion]] and then eliminate him. him, and Michael only gets away because [[BigDamnHeroes Fiona ends up having steps in to save Mike's ass as a result]].ass]] before things start getting messy.
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* ''Literature/JulianComstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America'' by Creator/RobertCharlesWilson. During Julian's campaign in Labrador, rumor spreads among his soldiers that he has a secret weapon sold to their side by the Chinese. Julian doesn't discourage the rumors as he figures they are good for morale, but when he finds his forces surrounded and cut off from friendly forces, he realises that a BrandishmentBluff is the only card he has to play. Unfortunately the Dutch bring up extra forces in preparation for the 'secret weapon' who eventually overwhelm his initially successful attack.
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* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': In the [[Rule34 NSFW doujin]], ''Spy x Sex'', [[BigBrotherAttraction jealous that Loid married Yor, Yuri]] hid several microphones in the Forgers' apartment to gather evidence that Loid is a bad husband and [[MurderTheHypotenuse intends to use the recordings to have Loid executed]], while [[RightFortheWrongReasons Loid is more concerned Yuri's trying to expose him]] as [[DeepCoverAgent Twilight]]. Since he can't destroy Yuri's microphones or use Frankie's jammer without blowing his cover, Loid activates the jamming device after asking Yor to sleep with him (Loid assumed Yuri would freak out and turn off his receiver, allowing Loid to destroy the microphones and Yuri would blame it on equipment failure), explaining to her that it's strange for a married couple to not have such relations, [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality but Yor gets scared and locks herself in her room]]. When Loid apologizes for pressuring her to have sex, because a breakup would jeopardize Operation Strix, Yor allows him into her room [[LingerieScene and he sees her wearing sexy lingerie]], explaining that Camilla told her he would leave her if he felt sexually unsatisfied and they share TheirFirstTime together as a married couple. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In the end, both men get more than they bargained for]]. After Loid noticed the jammer had run out of power, Yuri is shown crying inconsolably after listening to his beloved older sister going at it with her husband (Loid was too distracted having sex with Yor to get rid of the microphones), and the narrating text says he couldn't go to work the next day. When Loid decides to call it an evening and go back to his room, since he was ready for just for a romp or two, [[ComeBackToBedHoney Yor pins him down on the bed]] and [[ExtremeLibido makes him keep going for the whole night]]. The following morning, Anya sees Yor making breakfast and asks where Loid is, and when Yor says Loid is still slepping, Anya reads her mind, and feels that her role as an only child is in danger, while the narrating text mentions Loid wasn't able to go to work the next day either.

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* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': In the [[Rule34 NSFW doujin]], ''Spy x Sex'', [[BigBrotherAttraction jealous that Loid married Yor, Yuri]] hid several microphones in the Forgers' apartment to gather evidence that Loid is a bad husband and [[MurderTheHypotenuse intends to use the recordings to have Loid executed]], while [[RightFortheWrongReasons Loid is more concerned Yuri's trying to expose him]] as [[DeepCoverAgent Twilight]]. Since he can't destroy Yuri's microphones or use Frankie's jammer without blowing his cover, Loid activates the jamming device after asking Yor to sleep with him (Loid assumed Yuri would freak out and turn off his receiver, allowing Loid to destroy the microphones and Yuri would blame it on equipment failure), explaining to her that it's strange for a married couple to not have such relations, [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality but Yor gets scared and locks herself in her room]]. When Loid apologizes for pressuring her to have sex, because a breakup would jeopardize Operation Strix, Yor allows him into her room [[LingerieScene and he sees her wearing sexy lingerie]], explaining that Camilla told her he would leave her if he felt sexually unsatisfied and they share TheirFirstTime together as a married couple. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In the end, both men get more than they bargained for]]. After Loid noticed the jammer had run out of power, Yuri is shown crying inconsolably after listening to his beloved older sister going at it with her husband (Loid was too distracted having sex with Yor to get rid of the microphones), and the narrating text says he couldn't go to work the next day. When Loid decides to call it an evening and go back to his room, since he was ready for just for a romp or two, [[ComeBackToBedHoney Yor pins him down on the bed]] and [[ExtremeLibido makes him keep going for the whole night]]. The following morning, Anya sees Yor making breakfast and asks where Loid is, and when Yor says Loid is still slepping, sleeping, Anya reads her mind, and feels that her role as an only child is in danger, while the narrating text mentions Loid wasn't able to go to work the next day either.
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Subtrope of GoneHorriblyRight. Different from a SnowballLie, which gains mass until it collapses, a Runaway Bluff gains momentum even without further contributions, and trying to slow it down may just be DiggingYourselfDeeper. Compare BecomingTheMask, when your cover bleeds over into your real personality and changes it, IAmOneOfThoseToo, when somebody you meet coincidentally shares details of your bluff, SpringtimeForHitler, when you bank on losing and win, and UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime, when a crime goes too well and attracts too much attention.

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Subtrope of GoneHorriblyRight. Different from a SnowballLie, which gains mass until it collapses, a Runaway Bluff gains momentum even without further contributions, and trying to slow it down may just be DiggingYourselfDeeper. Compare BecomingTheMask, when your cover bleeds over into your real personality and changes it, IAmOneOfThoseToo, when somebody you meet coincidentally shares details of your bluff, SpringtimeForHitler, when you bank on losing and win, and UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime, when a crime goes too well and attracts too much attention. Also see FakeRealTurn.
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* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'': In "Go Away Ghost Ship," the gang is is in a motor-propelled boat using a tape player to play a ship's foghorn to attract the attention of the ship of Redbeard the pirate. It works all too well--the ship rams the tiny boat in two.

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* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'': In "Go Away Ghost Ship," the gang is is in a motor-propelled boat using a tape player to play a ship's foghorn to attract the attention of the ship of Redbeard the pirate. It works all too well--the ship rams the tiny boat in two.
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* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'': In "Go Away Ghost Ship," the gang is is in a motor-propelled boat using a tape player to play a ship's foghorn to attract the attention of the ship of Redbeard the pirate. It works all too well--the ship rams the tiny boat in two.
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* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Early in the film, after Angier's wife drowns in a magic act gone tragically wrong, his mentor Cutter tries to comfort him by claiming that drowning is a painless death, based off the words of a man he knew who almost died that way. [[spoiler:Much later on, Angier begins to murder his ExpendableClones after he is done with then by drowning them in a water tank, convinced that this is [[MercyKill merciful]]. When a horrified Cutter learns what he's doing, he promptly reveals to Angier that drowning is actually an ''incredibly'' painful and terrifying way to die, and the aforementioned man he knew said as much. He lied about it to spare Angier's feelings.]]

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* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Early in the film, after Angier's wife drowns in a magic act gone tragically wrong, his mentor Cutter tries to comfort him by claiming that drowning is a painless death, based off the words of a man he knew who almost died that way. [[spoiler:Much later on, Angier begins to murder his ExpendableClones {{Expendable Clone}}s after he is done with then by drowning them in a water tank, convinced that this is [[MercyKill merciful]].{{merc|ykill}}iful. When a horrified Cutter learns what he's doing, he promptly reveals to Angier that drowning is actually an ''incredibly'' painful and terrifying way to die, and the aforementioned man he knew said as much. He lied about it to spare Angier's feelings.]]
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-->-- '''Michael Westen''', "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS1E8WantedMan Wanted Man]]", ''Series/BurnNotice''

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-->-- '''Michael Westen''', ''Series/BurnNotice'', "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS1E8WantedMan Wanted Man]]", ''Series/BurnNotice''
Man]]"
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* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': When Yukako develops a crush on Koichi, he quickly becomes afraid of her because she is a {{yandere}}. He is too afraid to tell her directly that he does not like her that way. So Josuke and Okuyasu talk loudly in Yukako's hearing range about how Koichi shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money that people lend him. Yukako believes them, but since she loves Koichi so much, instead of being deterred, she decides to kidnap him and fix him up so he will become the perfect man.

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* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': When Yukako develops a crush on Koichi, he quickly becomes afraid of her because she is a {{yandere}}. He is too afraid to tell her directly that he does not like her that way. So Josuke and Okuyasu talk loudly in Yukako's hearing range about how Koichi shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money that people lend him. Yukako believes them, but since she loves her love for Koichi is so much, obsessive that instead of being deterred, she decides to kidnap him and fix him up so he will become the perfect man.
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* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': When Yukako develops a crush on Koichi, he quickly becomes afraid of her because she is a {{yandere}}. He is too afraid to tell her directly that he does not like her that way. So Josuke and Okuyasu talk loudly in Yukako's hearing range about how Koichi shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money that people lend him. Yukako believes them, but since she loves Koichi so much, instead of being deterred, she decides to kidnap him and fix him up so he will become the perfect man.

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* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': When Yukako develops a crush on Koichi, he quickly becomes afraid of her because she is a {{yandere}}. He is too afraid to tell her directly that he does not like her that way. So Josuke and Okuyasu talk loudly in Yukako's hearing range about how Koichi shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money that people lend him. Yukako believes them, but since she loves Koichi so much, instead of being deterred, she decides to kidnap him and fix him up so he will become the perfect man.
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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': When Yukako develops a crush on Koichi, he quickly becomes afraid of her because she is a {{yandere}}. He is too afraid to tell her directly that he does not like her that way. So Josuke and Okuyasu talk loudly in Yukako's hearing range about how Koichi shoplifts, cheats on his tests, steals girls' underwear, and never returns money that people lend him. Yukako believes them, but since she loves Koichi so much, instead of being deterred, she decides to kidnap him and fix him up so he will become the perfect man.
[[/folder]]
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* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': In the [[Rule34 NSFW doujin]], ''Spy x Sex'', [[BigBrotherAttraction jealous that Loid married Yor, Yuri]] hid several microphones in the Forgers' apartment to gather evidence that Loid is a bad husband and [[MurderTheHypotenuse intends to use the recordings to have Loid executed]], while [[RightFortheWrongReasons Loid is more concerned Yuri's trying to expose him]] as [[DeepCoverAgent Twilight]]. Since he can't destroy Yuri's microphones or use Frankie's jammer without blowing his cover, Loid activates the jamming device after asking Yor to sleep with him (Loid assumed Yuri would freak out and turn off his receiver, allowing Loid to destroy the microphones and Yuri would blame it on equipment failure), explaining to her that it's strange for a married couple to not have such relations, [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality but Yor gets scared and locks herself in her room]]. When Loid apologizes for pressuring her to have sex, because a breakup would jeopardize Operation Strix, Yor allows him into her room [[LingerieScene and he sees her wearing sexy lingerie]], explaining that Camilla told her he would leave her if he felt sexually unsatisfied and they share TheirFirstTime together as a married couple. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In the end, both men get more than they bargained for]]. After Loid noticed the jammer had run out of power, Yuri is shown crying inconsolably after listening to his beloved older sister going at it with her husband (Loid was too distracted having sex with Yor to get rid of the microphones), and the narrating text says he couldn't go to work the next day. When Loid decides to call it an evening and go back to his room, since he was ready for just for a romp or two, [[ComeBackToBedHoney Yor pins him down on the bed]] and [[ExtremeLibido makes him keep going for the whole night]]. The following morning, Anya sees Yor making breakfast and asks where Loid is, and when Yor says Loid is still slepping, Anya reads her mind, and feels that her role as an only child is in danger, while the narrating text mentions Loid wasn't able to go to work the next day either.
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** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' has Baloo pull a similar scam and get similar results: he convinces an employee of a radio station to do the Saturday show on Friday morning, the lie ends up spreading around the world, and Baloo ends up with bigger problems than he had hoped to avoid in the first place.

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** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' has Baloo pull a [[RecycledScript similar scam scam]] and get end up with similar results: he convinces an employee of a radio station to do the Saturday show on Friday morning, the lie ends up spreading around the world, and Baloo ends up with bigger problems than he had hoped to avoid in the first place.
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** An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' has Baloo pull a similar scam and get similar results: he convinces an employee of a radio station to do the Saturday show on Friday morning, the lie ends up spreading around the world, and Baloo ends up with bigger problems than he had hoped to avoid in the first place.
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[[folder:Film]]

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[[folder:Film]][[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]



* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' In "Allowance Day", Huey, Dewey and Louie trick Scrooge into believing Friday is really Saturday, so they can get their allowance early and buy a scooter that's on sale. Unfortunately, during Scrooge's morning conference call, the yes-men who run Scrooge's accept that it's ''really'' Saturday. The lie spreads to all of Scrooge's business interests, and from there to the entire world. By the time Huey, Dewey and Louie are let out of school (because their teacher informs them that it's ''really'' Saturday) to go to the department store, the sales' ended. And that's just the beginning of their troubles . . . .

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* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' In "Allowance Day", "[[Recap/DuckTalesAllowanceDay Allowance Day]]", Huey, Dewey and Louie trick Scrooge into believing Friday is really Saturday, so they can get their allowance early and buy a scooter that's on sale. Unfortunately, during Scrooge's morning conference call, the yes-men who run Scrooge's accept that it's ''really'' Saturday. The lie spreads to all of Scrooge's business interests, and from there to the entire world. By the time Huey, Dewey and Louie are let out of school (because their teacher informs them that it's ''really'' Saturday) to go to the department store, the sales' ended. And that's just the beginning of their troubles . . . .
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* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Early in the film, after Angier's wife drowns in a magic act gone tragically wrong, his mentor Cutter tries to comfort him by claiming that drowning is a painless, based off the words of a man he knew who almost died that way. [[spoiler:Much later on, Angier begins to murder his ExpendableClones after he is done with then by drowning them in a water tank, convinced that this is [[MercyKill merciful]]. When a horrified Cutter learns what he's doing, he promptly reveals to Angier that drowning is actually an ''incredibly'' painful and terrifying way to die, and the aforementioned man he knew said as much. He lied about it to spare Angier's feelings.]]

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* ''Film/ThePrestige'': Early in the film, after Angier's wife drowns in a magic act gone tragically wrong, his mentor Cutter tries to comfort him by claiming that drowning is a painless, painless death, based off the words of a man he knew who almost died that way. [[spoiler:Much later on, Angier begins to murder his ExpendableClones after he is done with then by drowning them in a water tank, convinced that this is [[MercyKill merciful]]. When a horrified Cutter learns what he's doing, he promptly reveals to Angier that drowning is actually an ''incredibly'' painful and terrifying way to die, and the aforementioned man he knew said as much. He lied about it to spare Angier's feelings.]]
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* This is why making a bomb threat or threatening to shoot up a place is an extremely bad idea. It’s the police’s job to take such threats seriously, and making one exponentially increases the odds of having a SWAT team (or your country’s equivalent) storm your home. Claiming to have a bomb, gun, or other weapon at an airport or other high-security area is an even worse, as you WILL find yourself tackled to the ground by TSA or other security personnel, and your immediate future will become VERY unpleasant.

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[[folder:Pro Wrestling - Non-Kayfabe]]
* In the final year of ''WCW'', Wrestling/HulkHogan was to have a match at Bash at the Beach 2000 against Jeff Jarrett. Hogan had a creative control clause that he could invoke to further his character and did not want to lose to Jarrett and instead win the title. All sides agree that he invoked this to defeat Jarrett by an easy victory, Vince Russo would nullify the results, and Hogan would be upset, say something negative about the company, temporarily be off of TV, and face the WCW Champion at the Halloween Havoc PPV to unify the titles. Where this becomes the Trope is that Vince Russo, defacto head of the company, publicly buried him and "fired" him inside that ring. Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan in real life) felt that Russo was shooting on both his character and himself, quit the company, and sued WCW for defamation of character.
* In the mid 90s when Kevin Sulivan was the Head Booker of WCW, Brian Pillman developed a "Loose Cannon" persona that ultimately lead to his character saying "I respect you, booker man" to Sullivan (at the time this was a major break in kayfabe that even wrestlers didn't know was a work between the two). Pillman was "fired" by WCW Vice President Wrestling/EricBischoff the day after the incident. To make things look real, Pillman asked for a formal looking release to develop this character further and make some money developing it in ECW. WCW sent a real release (with Turner Letterhead, the parent company) instead of a kayfabe one thinking this would look more legit. Pillman used this official release to make a lot of money from rival WWF and costing WCW a top heel.
[[/folder]]


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* In the final year of ''WCW'', Wrestling/HulkHogan was to have a match at Bash at the Beach 2000 against Jeff Jarrett. Hogan had a creative control clause that he could invoke to further his character and did not want to lose to Jarrett and instead win the title. All sides agree that he invoked this to defeat Jarrett by an easy victory, Vince Russo would nullify the results, and Hogan would be upset, say something negative about the company, temporarily be off of TV, and face the WCW Champion at the Halloween Havoc PPV to unify the titles. Where this becomes the Trope is that Vince Russo, defacto head of the company, publicly buried him and "fired" him inside that ring. Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan in real life) felt that Russo was shooting on both his character and himself, quit the company, and sued WCW for defamation of character.
* In the mid 90s when Kevin Sulivan was the Head Booker of WCW, Brian Pillman developed a "Loose Cannon" persona that ultimately lead to his character saying "I respect you, booker man" to Sullivan (at the time this was a major break in kayfabe that even wrestlers didn't know was a work between the two). Pillman was "fired" by WCW Vice President Wrestling/EricBischoff the day after the incident. To make things look real, Pillman asked for a formal looking release to develop this character further and make some money developing it in ECW. WCW sent a real release (with Turner Letterhead, the parent company) instead of a kayfabe one thinking this would look more legit. Pillman used this official release to make a lot of money from rival WWF and costing WCW a top heel.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'': Tom Nook advertised your island as having "fully-furnished homes", which, being a totally deserted island, it obviously does ''not'' have. You end up having to help him build and furnish the houses before the new residents arrive.
* ''VideoGame/GreedFall'': The Nauts' use of [[spoiler:magic to help them navigate the open sea]] was just a lie to protect [[spoiler:their scientific equipment]] from other nations. It ends up with them being the target of the Ordo Luminis' plan to purge them for being heretics.
* ''VideoGame/{{Timecrest}}'': Sol broke up with Rita for seemingly unclear reasons when their relationship was going well. In actuality, Sol broke up with Rita [[SecretTest to see if she would ask to come back to him and continue their relationship.]] If she returned to him, he was going to reveal his entire plan and marry her on the spot, however, she never came back to him out of sadness due to the breakup.
[[/folder]]

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