History MuggingTheMonster / RealLife

** The AlluringAnglerfish and other predators that use the strategy attract small fish that think their lure is just a piece of food when it's actually a giant fish. Or a matamata turtle.

* A serial pervert in Pittsburgh got the bright idea to yank down the pants of a woman who was jogging past him in a park to grab her butt, but little did he know [[http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/05/jogging-us-marshal-kicks-man-in-the-crotch-arrests-him-after-he-yanked-down-her-shorts/ she was a US Federal Marshal]] -- i.e. someone whose ''job'' it is to chase down criminals -- who promptly identified herself, chased after him, [[GroinAttack kicked him in the crotch]] when he resisted arrest and beat the shit out of him. The Marshal's only injury was to her pinky finger, while by all accounts he was in considerably worse shape by the end.

* Look up an old series called ''America's Dumbest Criminals'', and watch it to see more examples of this than you can count. A standout example is a guy who tries to mug someone with a cheap water pistol, a toy the person being mugged recognized as a copy of the same toy he bought his kid. The robber was quickly disarmed and brought to the ground via martial arts, and arrested.

* Look up an old series called ''America's Dumbest Criminals'', and watch it to see more examples of this than you can count.

* On February 24th, 1984, a man named Gary Fadden accidentally cut off a motorcyclist. A while later, the man he had offended, a member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, returned in a pickup truck with 2 more buddies. They chased Mr. Fadden and his fiance more than 22 miles, occasionally firing shots at his vehicle. Not knowing what else to do, Fadden drove to his workplace, where he assumed he would be safe, the US manufacturing plant for international arms manufacturer, Heckler & Koch. The pursuers drove their truck through the gate. Gary got out of his car and retrieved a Ruger AC-556 automatic rifle that he had been testing earlier that week. The main biker then hopped out and began to charge Mr. Fadden. Gary fired a burst into the air, [[TooDumbToLive to which the biker replied "Fuck you and your rifle" and kept coming]]. Fadden then shot and killed the biker. He was later tried for second-degree murder, but he was found innocent on grounds of self-defense.

* In 1971, legendary boxer Jack Dempsey was taking a cab home with his wife, and was accosted by a mugger. Apparently, the mugger never knew what hit him. [[RetiredBadass Dempsey was 78 at the time]].

* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/comments/1w0sav/6th_grade_girl_bullies_get_destroyed/cexnfsr?context=3 This US Marine]] shares a humorous story of the time he and a few of his fellow Marines foolishly got into a snowball fight with Norwegian schoolkids. Protip: even if you are a Marine, if you grew up in Texas or North Carolina you are not as good at snowball fighting as Norwegians.

* Creator/LeeMarvin, a pretty tough guy himself (he was a decorated [=WW2=] vet), once picked a fight with Creator/RogerMoore, accusing him of looking and being too wimpy to be a credible action star. Moore convincingly kicked his ass. Afterwards Marvin was heard to say:

* Military oilers often get mistaken for regular tanker ships, especially in low light conditions. This has led to more than one group of pirates trying to seize them, only to find out these ships often have rotary cannons on board and even if they don't, an assault rifle for every crew member. Never mind that they have the navies they serve on speed dial so to speak.

* The story of how UsefulNotes/JosefStalin sent multiple assassins after UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito, prompting Tito to send the following letter and stopped Stalin from any further attempt.

* [[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/24-year-old-burglar-gregory-mccalium-beaten-victim-elderly-retired-boxer-frank-corti-article-1.379153 In this New York Daily News article from 2009]], 24-year-old Gregory [=McCalium=] tried robbing his 72-year-old neighbour, Frank Corti, with a knife over a noise complaint he has received, not knowing he was a [[RetiredBadass retired boxer, marine, and hand-to-hand instructor]]. The would-be robber ended up with a black eye and a bruised lip with Frank none the worse for wear as shown in his mugshot.

* June 21, 2022, a man tried to a rob a store in Houston with a "bladed object." [[https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/man-shot-killed-inside-wilcrest-gun-store/285-b7324cb3-dc07-4f4d-884b-04554d5f73d1 A gun store.]]
* 14 September, 2021, a 34-year-old man decides to pick on a 16-year old boy, and finds out the hard way [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11203337/Moment-thug-picks-fight-junior-Jiu-Jitsu-world-champion-16-takes-attacker.html that the boy is a junior Jiu Jitsu World Champion]].

* On August 20 1942 the Red Army forces on the Don launched an assault on the Italian troops in the area to try and cut off the Germans besieging Stalingrad, and routed the "Sforzesca" infantry division. Four days later at night three battalions in reconnaisance, totaling 2,500 men, found an Italian cavalry regiment of 700 troopers near Izbushensky and surrounded it, and after being found by a patrol opened fire with mortars... To which the Italians replied with ''75mm field guns'' from the attached horse artillery detachment before charging by squadron. The Soviet troops broke and ran at the third squadron, stopping their offensive by 24 hours as the rest of the divison tried to make sense of what had happened to their vanguard and allowing the "Sforzesca" to reach a safe position and regroup.

%% Troper Tales are dead, no personal anecdotes please! Put Urban Legends in the Urban Legend folder, too.

* On February 24th, 1984, a man named Gary Fadden accidentally cut off a motorcyclist. A while later, the man he had offended, a member of the Outlaws motorcycle gang, returned in a pickup truck with 2 more buddies. They chased Mr. Fadden and his fiance more than 22 miles, occasionally firing shots at his vehicle. Not knowing what else to do, Fadden drove to his workplace, where he assumed he would be safe, the US manufacturing plant for international arms manufacturer, Heckler & Koch. The pursuers drove their truck through the gate. Gary got out of his car and retrieved a Ruger AC-556 automatic rifle that he had been testing earlier that week. The main biker then hopped out and began to charge Mr. Fadden. Gary fired a burst into the air, [[BullyingADragon to which the biker replied "Fuck you and your rifle" and kept coming]]. Fadden then shot and killed the biker. He was later tried for second-degree murder, but he was found innocent on grounds of self-defense.

* [[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-killed-alleged-serial-killer-neal-falls-recounts-final-fight/ A woman in]] [[NamesTheSame Charleston, West Virginia]] shot and killed an alleged serial killer with his own gun.

* Dressing up policewomen like MsFanservice and sending them out to troll for johns is standard practice for vice squads worldwide, to the point where it was briefly demonstrated in one of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books (and PlayedForLaughs, because the typically gorgeous blonde officer is also a werewolf and thus the back-up). Muggers and psychos occasionally fall for their act and get snapped up by the decoy or her backup.

* Mailmen aren't armed like law enforcement, they just deliver stuffs, and are the traditional ButtMonkey of {{Angry Guard Dog}}s. Surely an easy target! Well, as it turns out, mail tampering is a ''federal'' crime, and can get you in ''really'' hot waters. So don't harass the mailmen, if you know what's good for you.

* In December 2020, a middle-aged woman calling herself "Reggie" spotted two 20-somethings canvassing her mother's neighborhood in Georgia. She asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, and the male canvasser agreed. Quickly into the interview, however, Reggie started grilling him on various hot-button political issues from the opposite side of the political spectrum, making the innocent interview feel more like a partisan ambush. Unfortunately for Reggie, she happened to be ambushing the prolific [=YouTuber=] Destiny, who makes his living debating politics. He effortlessly defended his positions on a wide range of topics and ultimately uploaded the entire interview onto his channel to show off.

* 14 September, 2021, a 34-year-old man decides to pick on a 16-year old boy, and finds out the hard way [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11203337/Moment-thug-picks-fight-junior-Jiu-Jitsu-world-champion-16-takes-attacker.html that said boy is a junior Jiu Jitsu World Champion]].

* June 23, 2022, a man tried to a rob a store in Houston with a "bladed object." [[https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/man-shot-killed-inside-wilcrest-gun-store/285-b7324cb3-dc07-4f4d-884b-04554d5f73d1 A gun store.]]

* In January 2021 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread on [[Website/{{Reddit}} day-trading subreddit r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions. It also indirectly led to a [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/investing/lawsuit-robinhood-gamestop-wallstreetbets/index.html class-action lawsuit]] against a day-trading app that tried to stop the buy-up by selling [=GameStop=] shares without users' permission: so many people tried to sign onto the suit that the Southern District of New York court website crashed.

* In 2019, a man tried to force a woman into his car. When she managed to break free, he followed her. [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46769668 Into a karate studio.]]

* In December 2020, a middle-aged woman calling herself "Reggie" spotted two 20-somethings canvassing her mother's neighborhood in Georgia. She asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, and the male canvasser agreed. Quickly into the interview, however, Reggie started grilling him on various hot-button political issues from the opposite side of the political spectrum, making the innocent interview feel more like a partisan ambush. Unfortunately for Reggie, she happened to be ambushing Destiny, a prolific [=YouTuber=] who makes his living debating politics. He effortlessly defended his positions on a wide range of topics and ultimately uploaded the entire interview onto his channel to show off.

* In December 2020, a middle-aged woman calling herself "Reggie" spotted two 20-somethings canvassing her mother's neighborhood in Georgia. She asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, and the male canvasser agreed. Quickly into the interview, however, Reggie started grilling him on various hot-button political issues from the opposite political spectrum, making the innocent interview feel more like a partisan ambush. Unfortunately for Reggie, she happened to be ambushing Destiny, a prolific [=YouTuber=] who makes his living debating politics. He effortlessly defended his positions on a wide range of topics and ultimately uploaded the entire interview onto his channel to show off.

* In December 2020, a middle-aged woman calling herself "Reggie" spotted two 20-somethings canvassing her mother's neighborhood in Georgia. She asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, and the male canvasser agreed. Quickly into the interview, however, Reggie started grilling him on various hot-button political issues from the opposite political spectrum, making the innocent interview feel more like a partisan ambush. Unfortunately for Reggie, she happened to be interviewing Destiny, a prolific [=YouTuber=] who makes his living debating politics. He effortlessly defended his positions on a wide range of topics and ultimately uploaded the entire interview onto his channel to show off.

* A ''lot'' of people have picked a fight with someone else, only to find out [[CurbStompBattle after a good beating]] that said person is a soldier or a member of law enforcement and is professionally trained to kick someone's ass. (MMA fighters, especially the women, take this UpToEleven.)

* In 2012, veteran rapper and current actor, Music/LLCoolJ, walked in on someone robbing his house and gave him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Clearly, [[IncrediblyLamePun Mama said knock him out]].

* In April of 2020, a former champion high school wrestler believed to be blitzed out on PCP broke into the house of former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith, a 6'4 light-heavyweight. Anthony pummeled the intruder for five minutes until the police arrived. However, Smith's candid comments about the incident, in which he admitted being terrified that the intruder would produce a weapon and expressed amazement that the man never stopped fighting no matter how many times he was hit, caused many armchair critics in the fighting community to roast him as a wimp.

* In December 2020, a middle-aged woman named "Reggie" spotted two 20-somethings canvassing her mother's neighborhood in Georgia. She asked if they would be willing to be interviewed, and the male canvasser agreed. Quickly into the interview, however, Reggie started grilling him on various hot-button political issues from the opposite political spectrum, making the innocent interview feel more like a partisan ambush. Unfortunately for Reggie, she happened to be interviewing Destiny, a prolific [=YouTuber=] who makes his living debating politics. He effortlessly defended his positions on a wide range of topics and ultimately uploaded the entire interview onto his channel, to show off.

*** The Portia itself isn't immune to this trope. There have been several occasions where its prey will turn out to be too fast for it, [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted and has no problem eating other spiders as well.]]