History Main / DidYouJustScamCthulhu

* "Literature/KonoSuba": Midway through the series, Aqua ends up purchasing a young hatching which she names Emperor Zell for 75 million Eris that she claims to be a dragon, but suspiciously looks and acts like an ordinary fowl chick and continuously pours her divine energy into the hatchling since it would empower him once he evolved if he truly is a dragon. In the end, when Emperor Zell finally evolves, he transforms into [[spoiler:a regular full grown chicken, revealing that Aqua really was just scammed out of her money thanks to her low intelligence stat.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' metaplot, the Medic manages to screw over Old Nick in a DealWithTheDevil through the simple expedient of supplementing the soul he sold with eight others, meaning that [[spoiler:when he dies, he holds a ''vote'' on whether to go to hell, in which the Devil gets one share. When Old Nick tries to get violent about it, Medic then gets himself resurrected by pointing out that that him going to hell nice and fairly is a simple matter of the Devil getting four of the other eight souls, and points out that Old Nick got ''one'' of them, four more should be a simple matter. And to prove his point, he sells one more for a pen [[FantasyKeepsake that he takes back to the living world with him]].]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Chicanery}}'' begins with [[VideoGame/Mother Pokey]] having just embezzled [[EldritchAbomination Giygas']] $44,000,000 retirement fund.

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[[quoteright:360:[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CreedvTzeentch.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:360:[[TimeAbyss I have existed before the stars]], and I will exist long after they have died! No mere mortal could possibly--[[SurpriseCheckmate what is that pawn doing there]]?]]

** John Constantine, being a conman, has screwed a lot of gods from different religions and mythologies, but none can compare to the events in ''Hellblazer'' Issue 128. With the First and other of his enemies still on John's tail to take his soul to Hell, John decided to have a face-to-face talk with the Judeo-Christian {{God}}--the most powerful being in whole existence and the God of all Gods. During their campfire discussion, John literally blackmailed God by saying that if his soul goes to Hell, he has the necessary skills and cunning to easily take it over. God, who knew of John's reputation and what he could do, was forced to save John's soul and forever keep him out of the reach of Hell and its minions. Though, being that God is TheOmniscient, perhaps John wasn't the one pulling the con...

** After Eurydice was fatally bitten by a poisonous viper, Orpheus makes a journey to Tartarus, playing music which alleviates the sufferings of the tormented. Orpheus appeals to Hades and Persephone, urging them to restore her back to life. They agree, on the condition that Orpheus does not look back until after he has crossed the threshold. Sadly subverted; Eurydice saw the bright sunlight, stumbled and cried out in pain just before crossing the threshold, and Orpheus turns to see what afflicted her, only for Orpheus to lose his beloved Eurydice to Hades for good. Sadly, there is no second chance for Orpheus, who is refused re-entry by Hades.

** Loki manages to pull this off twice against Baldur: the gods have a series of contests tossing various projectiles at Baldur, until Loki learns that mistletoe, which the gods regarded as insignificant, had not been asked to take an oath not to harm Baldur. Loki fashions a small spear from mistletoe, guiding the hand of Baldur's blind brother Hodur, who throws the dart of mistletoe that kills Baldur. Afterwards, the gods ask the goddess of the underworld if there is any hope of Baldur's resurrection; she replies that if everything on Earth mourns for Baldur, he will be resurrected, unless anything should refuse. The gods encounter an old woman who refuses to mourn for him, who is revealed to be Loki in disguise. As a result of Loki's grudge, Baldur remains unresurrected in the Norse underworld.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', an [[TheArchmage archmage]] of the [[TheFairFolk Summer Court]] is sent to kill Harry, as part of a power play between the courts. In the end he's obligated to follow through even though the matter has been resolved, so long as both he and Harry are still on the "field of battle." Harry has been awarded a favor by the Summer Court, but is specifically told that he can't call it in to have the mage, Eldest Gruff, spare his life. He instead asks Eldest Gruff for [[spoiler:a fresh-baked Chicago donut. With sprinkles. And no magically appearing donuts! It has to be real, from a bakery. Eldest Gruff notes that, since they're miles away from any bakery, that request will probably take some time. Harry says that's fine, there's no rush--since of course Harry plans to be long gone from the battlefield before the donut is delivered. Eldest Gruff, his task to kill Harry now impossible, finds this a hilariously appropriate way to bend the rules and leaves to fulfill the favor. He even throws in a hot coffee to boot. Later books note that the ''entire'' Summer Court was laughing for days about it.]]

* [[Podcast/TheMagnusArchives]] has a case of this combined with the traditional ChessWithDeath folktale in the appropriately titled episode ''Cheating Death.'' A soldier killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill has the chance to play against Death for his soul, being guaranteed he won't die if he wins. He challenges Death to the card game Faro, and spends the entire game with a concealed string attached to a key piece. At the last moment, he pulls the piece and guarantees his win. Death doesn't notice, and he thinks he's free and clear...[[SubvertedTrope until he starts decaying away into a new Reaper]] and is informed that [[ExactWords not dying]] is [[FateWorseThanDeath very different from living.]]

* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} manages to beat the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe, (who was at the time pitting the Avengers [or at least ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and Hawkeye, the only two still alive] in an endless series of games to the death) by convincing the Grandmaster to engage in a game of chance to make it more interesting. Hawkeye, of course, wins. He did, after all, cheat.

** This is one of the Doctor's favorite tactics on, particularly his seventh incarnation. For instance, in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" he outwitted the Gods of Ragnarok and in "The Curse of Fenric", he out-gambitted the titular character who is defined as being an EldritchAbomination and a ChessMaster. Three lifetimes later in "Blink," he tricked a group of Weeping Angels into looking at each other (immobilizing them, since Weeping Angels can't move while being observed).

Variants common enough to have their own tropes include ChessWithDeath, FaustianRebellion (more likely to succeed if TheDevilIsALoser), and {{Wishplosion}} (when involving genies and other wish-granting entities). If successfully employed against a TricksterGod, it's a case of HoistByTheirOwnPetard.