History Main / PigInAPoke

** At one point, you're offered a Farfetch'd, which can be found nowhere else, for an incredibly common Spearow. The catch is that Farfetch'd's battle potential is nowhere near what Spearow's is, especially when you factor in that Spearow can evolve into the much stronger Fearow. This was entirely intentional by the developers, as Farfetch'd is based on a proverb about a duck with an onion leek, which can refer to either a stroke of luck (finding such a duck) or being an easy mark for a con (being the duck itself).

* Terrytoons' character Hector Heathcote had an episode called "Pig In A Poke," which dealt with the Louisiana Purchase. Heathcote and his dog Winston are sent to meet Lewis and Clark to see if the deal is worth it. The villain Benedict and his stooge pretend to be Lewis and Clark in attempt to scuttle the Purchase.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', leprechaun's gold vanishes shortly after you pick it up, rendering it completely worthless except for screwing over people you owe money to (which is exactly what it gets used for).

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'' a salvager tries to sell you a holocron for 500 credits. When you ask to see it, he says that it doesn't work that way: he doesn't know the item's real value, so you would both be gambling on this deal. (it turns out to be fake)

* In ''Roughing It'', MarkTwain describes a type: combing an otherwise worthless mine for one tiny chunk of rock containing silver or gold, presenting it to the assay office as an "average" sample, then selling shares in the now grossly overvalued mine.

** Many in-game trades throughout the series seem to count as this, mostly due to the fact that their stats, genders and nature are usually fixed. The only thing that varied was the level, which will be the same as the Pokémon you just traded (This is also fixed in Gen V as well). Generally, these stats are mediocre at best. One trade in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' promises you a Haunter (which evolves into Gengar by trading), but when you trade the Pokémon for said Haunter... It doesn't evolve because it is holding an Everstone; an item used to specifically ''prevent'' evolution.

Then you unwrap it and take a closer look. And it's not what you thought you were buying. Maybe it doesn't work nearly as well as the seller said it would. Maybe it doesn't work at all. Maybe it isn't even close to what was described. You just bought a PigInAPoke.

* ComicBook/DoctorDoom often did this to Latverian nobles in his early years, with help from his GadgeteerGenius qualities. For example, he sold a device that he claimed was a violin that played amazing music regardless of the player's skill, but was actually a remote-controlled radio.

* Doctor Doom often did this to Latverian nobles in his early years, with help from his GadgeteerGenius qualities. For example, he sold a device that he claimed was a violin that played amazing music regardless of the player's skill, but was actually a remote-controlled radio.

* SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom often did this to Latverian nobles in his early years, with help from his GadgeteerGenius qualities. For example, he sold a device that he claimed was a violin that played amazing music regardless of the player's skill, but was actually a remote-controlled radio.

Compare ViolinScam, where the buyer is convinced that ''he's'' scamming the seller by the seller's confederate.

* The basic plot of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons discover a manuscript for the written memoir of a former intelligence agency employee and, falsely believing it to contain classified information, try to sell it to the Russian government. The Russians can't be fooled though and reject what turns out to be useless drivel.

* The basic plot of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons try to sell what they deem top-secret information to the Russian but it turns out be be useless drivel.

* The basic plot of ''Film/BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons blackmail the CIA into buying one of these.

* Twice in the first episode of ''Series/TheStevenBanksShow'', titled "Rock Auction." During a PBS fundraising auction Steve buys what he thinks is Creator/JohnLennon's guitar but it's only the case...and it was ''Julian'' Lennon. Meanwhile [[Music/TheMonkees Peter Tork]] is there too, having bought one of his own Monkees shirts (which a fan had ripped off of his body years earlier). But when they show it to him it's much too small: "That one is Davy's!"

* [[ConversationalTroping Conversed]] in NeilGaiman's ''Literature/AmericanGods'': Wednesday is talking about some of his favorite grifts, one of which involves a [[ViolinScam violin, two grifters, and an upper-class waiter]] as TheMark.

* The basic plot of ''BurnAfterReading'' is that a few morons blackmail the CIA into buying one of these.

* Twice in the first episode of ''The Steven Banks Show'', titled "Rock Auction." During a PBS fundraising auction Steve buys what he thinks is Creator/JohnLennon's guitar but it's only the case...and it was ''Julian'' Lennon. Meanwhile [[Music/TheMonkees Peter Tork]] is there too, having bought one of his own Monkees shirts (which a fan had ripped off of his body years earlier). But when they show it to him it's much too small: "That one is Davy's!"
* A particularly notorious JudgeJudy case involving an ebay scammer had the scammer advertise that she was selling two mobile phones, and what {{The Mark}}s actually received were two pictures of the phones, with the scammer being very careful to say on the advert that the buyers are bidding on "what [they] see in the photo" [[LoopholeAbuse allowing her to claim she hadn't actually deceived the marks]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately for the scammer, between appearing on the show (where Judy can do pretty much whatever she wants and isn't as vulnerable to LoopholeAbuse as another court might be,) slamming down hard on Judy's known {{Berserk Button}}s (not having a job, making working people lose the money they've earned, and treating Judy herself as if she's an idiot,) and being less careful with the product description (she gave the weight of the product as 4.90 oz, and since the two photos the marks got sent obviously weighed far less than that, the LoopholeAbuse itself had a gaping loophole,) [[LaserGuidedKarma the scammer simply got one of the most vicious humiliations in the show's history in front of 10 million viewers while the marks got compensated the maximum $5000 Judy's allowed to rule]].]]

* In ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II'' a salvager tries to sell you a holocron for 500 credits. When you ask to see it, he says that it doesn't work that way: he doesn't know the item's real value, so you would both be gambling on this deal. (it turns out to be fake)

The old Latin saying "Caveat Emptor" goes to show that this trope is OlderThanFeudalism. Fables about fools purchasing worthless junk at a premium can be found around the world.

*** Subverted if you're going for a GottaCatchEmAll OneHundredPercentCompletion, as this is the only way to get a Farfetch'd.
*** Many in-game trades throughout the series seem to count as this, mostly due to the fact that their stats, genders and nature are usually fixed. The only thing that varied was the level, which will be the same as the Pokémon you just traded (This is also fixed in Gen V as well). Generally, these stats are mediocre at best. One trade in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' promises you a Haunter (which evolves into Gengar by trading), but when you trade the Pokémon for said Haunter... It doesn't evolve because it is holding an Everstone; an item used to specifically ''prevent'' evolution.

The [[TropeNamer Trope Namer]] is a Middle Ages confidence trick wherein a con artist would sell somebody what is supposed to be a suckling pig in a sack or poke. In fact the hidden meat would be a cat. The same con gives us the phrase "to let the cat out of the bag". Known in Spanish as "dar gato por liebre" (giving a cat instead of a hare) after the Medieval practice of selling cats instead of hares for food. Unlike the pig, hares and cats look quite similar when skinned.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when the boys are involved in a tooth fairy scam, Butters buys what he was told were Chinese teeth, but are actually cat teeth.

* In ''HarryPotter'', leprechaun's gold vanishes shortly after you pick it up, rendering it completely worthless except for screwing over people you owe money to (which is exactly what it gets used for).