| 1 | -> ''"If I'm caught where I'm not supposed to be, it won't be suspicious."'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''Sam Starfall''', ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | %%The cart comes rumbling up to the gates. The EvilOverlord's guards poke about, and find a jug under the seat. Fool peasant thought he could sneak some moonshine past ''them''. They take it, and the cart rumbles on -- with the {{rightful king|Returns}} hidden under its cargo. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Infraction Distraction is when a conspicuous but minor infraction -- possibly not even illegal but merely disreputable -- is made up or committed for the purposes of distracting authorities from something much more serious. (Usually a crime, but not always; a character can pretend to be distilling moonshine to hide that he's training with his new superpowers, for instance.) Not unlike a KansasCityShuffle, the guards in question know they're being tricked, but are wrong about what the trick is. If you confess (whether or not you actually committed it), it's ConfessToALesserCrime, but you can also manufacture evidence against yourself or otherwise plant clues to the infraction, down to simply committing it. One common method is to plant an IncrediblyObviousTail -- to distract from the skilled and subtle tail. IncrediblyObviousBug can also be used, but is less common. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Overlaps with EmbarrassingCoverUp if the decoy secret is disreputable as well as prohibited (or if the character is so LawfulGood or such a SlaveToPR that being caught breaking even minor rules is an embarrassment in and of itself). Overlap with WeNeedADistraction is possible but rare, since it usually is not to enable further actions. A SmokescreenCrime is when a major crime is used to cover for another major crime. If a suspect is surprisingly quick to confess their BigSecret, there's a good chance it's this. See also HiddenInPlainSight. A CensorDecoy is this used in RealLife to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get crap past the radar]]. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The opposite is MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ---- |
| 13 | !!Examples |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 18 | * In the first chapter of ''Manga/BloodyMonday'', Fujimaru (a teenager) tells his younger sister he's going to check out his porn downloads, just so she doesn't enter his room to catch him hacking. It's suggested that he also used porn video games as a cover for hacking jobs, though it's never denied that he played them. |
| 19 | * This is one of the many tactics employed by Light in ''Manga/DeathNote'' to hide his possession of the titular book. When he realizes that his room has been bugged, he lets them catch him reading porn, in order to make it appear that his security-precautions were put in place to prevent his parents or sibling from finding his PornStash. Made even more awkward by the fact that his father is one of the investigators watching the tapes. |
| 20 | * Similarly, Madarame from ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'' had some porn [=DVDs=] in a drawer to serve as a decoy to prevent the other club members from discovering something else in that drawer: [[spoiler:photos of Kasukabe cosplaying]]. |
| 21 | * ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}}''. In the anime episode "Pretty Woman", a Mafia boss finds that his mistress has secretly met someone in a hotel room. She 'confesses' that she slept with his underling (untrue, as she loathed him) to hide that she was meeting Duke there to arrange the boss's assassination. |
| 22 | [[/folder]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 25 | * Downplayed in ''ComicBook/AstroCity''. When Marella Cowper is helping deliver emergency supplies from the United States to Ecuador, the locals think she has black market connections. In actuality, she's using Honor Guard's teleportation gate system, but lets them perpetuate the myth to avoid more questions. |
| 26 | * ''ComicBook/CommandoComics'': Two Free Dutch pilots are accused of being spies because they've been secretly flying over Holland and dropping a parachute cannister. When the British pilots force them to open the cannister, it turns out to be full of food supplies for the starving civilians. However, their CO is still angry at their unauthorised actions and grounds them, whereupon they draw guns and try to make for their aircraft. Turns out they really are German spies. |
| 27 | * ''ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra'': Aphra is being subjected to a MindProbe. Given that she has plenty of secrets ranging from Darth Vader plotting to usurp the Emperor to TheMissusAndTheEx trying to free her, she blurts out a fact that she's just discovered--there's a [[OhCrap highly virulent pathogen]] loose on the PrisonShip. Her Imperial interrogators promptly decide to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere cut things short]] and AbandonShip. |
| 28 | * Classic ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' villain the Prankster has actually started hiring out his services as a distraction, so while you're pulling off whatever crime you've got planned, Superman is busy dealing with Prankster. Naturally, it doesn't take Superman long to figure this out. |
| 29 | [[/folder]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 32 | * In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fic ''Fanfic/AllYouNeedIsLove'', Naomi confronts [[SerialKillerKiller Light while he's busy killing criminals]] from her living room: |
| 33 | -->'''Naomi:''' What are you working on anyway, we both know you're Kira.\ |
| 34 | '''Light:''' I'm not working on anything.\ |
| 35 | '''Naomi:''' Then why the laptop?\ |
| 36 | '''Light:''' [[TheInternetIsForPorn ... Porn...]]\ |
| 37 | '''Naomi:''' Wow, that is the most boring pornography I have ever seen. This is porn for you? |
| 38 | ** Bonus points for referring to Light being bored by pornography in canon. |
| 39 | * In ''FanFic/TheDarknessSeries'', Harry conceals his knowledge of [[TheDarkArts Dark magic and Parselmagic]] by pretending that his [[ScaledUp snake form]] is his animagus form. |
| 40 | * At one point in the ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'', Naruto convinced his entire graduating class except Sasuke and Sakura to treat the academy like a deep cover mission and hide their skills. Shikamaru is somewhat lax in maintaining his cover because "If he's caught over something minor, people tend to stop looking." |
| 41 | * ''Fanfic/{{Moonshadow}}'': In chapter 29 Adrian, having succeed in his [[TheCaper plan]], attempts to get Raine in trouble for having the Collector’s disc. Raine manages to turn the accusation around by saying that Adrian fell for his and Eda’s [[BatmanGambit plan]] but that’s just a fabrication to hide the fact [[NiceJobFixingItVillain that Adrian’s actions forced them to free The Collector which is what Adrian was trying to prevent]]. |
| 42 | * In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9392346/1/My-Friend-Tom My Friend Tom]]'' when Harry is breaking into Snape's office to investigate he carries dungbombs in his pocket in case he's caught so that Snape won't know he's onto him and will just assume he's just setting up a stupid prank. |
| 43 | * Speranza's ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' fic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/683009 Self Defense]]'': Harold kills someone who's trying to strangle John, but despite the reasonable self-defense of the act, they can't afford to be taken by the cops who just showed up. As Harold's system is reeling, John pulls him into a gay bar, sloshes whiskey over them both (and gets Harold to down a couple shots as well), and retreats to a back room. By the time the cops barge in, they just see enough for the homophobic cop to get outraged -- and the other cop just goes "C'mon, we're wasting time," so they leave. (And then of course, being a Rinch fic, John gets all angsty over what he did to save Harold.) |
| 44 | -->They heard him muttering darkly to the bartender, who barked out a laugh and said, "Hey. I just said they were in a rush," and Harold understood what Reese had evidently understood all along. They were ''guilty''. So they had to ''be guilty''; Reese had just made them guilty of something irrelevant. |
| 45 | * ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': In Episode 40 Part 1, Ahsoka is trying to gain the trust of servo-skull Bofin-337 when Rex spots a mob of anti-Imperial freedom fighters heading their way. Not wanting the mob to destroy Bofin, Ahsoka hides it in a sack. When the leader of the rebel mob [[spoiler:(secretly an undercover Inquisitor)]] notices how she's acting suspiciously with a bag, he inquires as to what is inside. Ahsoka is able to satisfy his curiosity and keep him from looking inside by lying that it contains the decapitated head of an Imperial that she was planning to eat, even showing off her fangs to make it more convincing. |
| 46 | * ''Fanfic/VowOfTheKing'': Orihime and Tatsuki avoid a confrontation with Komamura during the Soul Society arc by ducking into an alleyway and [[FakeOutMakeOut making out]]. Between that and their stolen uniforms, Komamura chastises them for dereliction of duty and promises proper punishment once the current crisis is over, allowing them to be on their way without fighting. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 50 | * In the film of ''Literature/BlackSunday'', Lander and Dahlia's plan to hijack the Goodyear blimp goes awry when Lander is sacked from his job as pilot. So they murder the replacement pilot Farley, then Lander tells the blimp crew that he was called in by Farley because he had to be rushed to the hospital after an altercation with a girlfriend. The crew are eager to spare Farley any further embarrassment, so go along with Lander's suggestion that they pretend to MissionControl that Farley is still piloting the blimp. |
| 51 | * In ''Film/{{Blow}}'', when George is going through customs, he willingly opens the suitcase with the hidden compartment full of drugs, causing the guards to demand the other bag, which turns out to be full of women's underwear. |
| 52 | * ''Film/LesBrigadesDuTigre''. The Russian princess who is working with a French anarchist (also her lover) to expose her husband's corruption [[WhereWereYouLastNight tells the prince]] that she's having an affair with the protagonist, Commissaire Valentin. Unfortunately her jealous husband then decides to murder Valentin. |
| 53 | * In ''Film/TheDogsOfWar'', Shannon plants a ''Playboy'' magazine and a bottle of whiskey in his luggage for the customs official to 'confiscate' so he doesn't look too closely at anything else he is bringing in. |
| 54 | * ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'': Morris carries a wooden wedge coated with metal out of the carpentry workshop openly in his hand. He is naturally caught right away by the guard; his claims that it is meant to make it easier to take his hung clothes off the hook, otherwise why would he be carrying it openly, are not believed and the guard calls him an idiot. After it is confiscated, we see him return to his cell and take an identically equipped wedge from his shoe heel, to be used to carve out the concrete in the wall behind his bunk.[[note]]This is why in a real prison today, inmates who did this would not only be made to walk through the metal detector again until they were clean, they would be disciplined and likely removed from their cell pending a search[[/note]] |
| 55 | * ''Film/FaceOff''. Castor has stolen the identity (and face) of Special Agent Sean Archer, but Mrs Archer is suspicious of her husband's altered behavior, so he 'confesses' to having read her diary, realised from it that he's a bad husband and is now trying to change to make her happy. [[spoiler:She pretends to accept this, but secretly takes a blood sample from Castor during the night which confirms he's not Sean Archer.]] |
| 56 | * ''Film/TheFourthProtocol''. MI-5 agent John Preston breaks into the safe of a politician who is stealing secrets to get evidence. He also steals a diamond necklace in the safe, so it will look like an ordinary burglary. This is AdaptationDistillation from the novel, in which the burglary was genuine and the thief stole the briefcase with the secret files (hidden in a secret compartment) to hold the necklace. |
| 57 | * In ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', Bond and his ally Kerim Bey determine the easiest way to steal the [[MacGuffin Lektor device]] is to ''blow up the entire Russian Consulate'', then sneakily make the device "disappear". |
| 58 | * This trope occurs accidentally in ''Film/LittleMissSunshine''. A cop stops the family's VW bus and Richard is horrifically nervous about the fact that [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Grandpa's dead body]]]] is hidden in the trunk. Due to his nervous demeanor, the cop quickly realizes that something is amiss and immediately opens the trunk to investigate... only for Grandpa's porn magazines to tip out and fall to the ground. The cop picks them up, chuckles, and tells Richard that he's not going to bust him, then takes off and leaves everyone in peace, having completely missed [[spoiler: the sheet-wrapped corpse]] that the porno had been sitting on. |
| 59 | -->'''Sheryl:''' What happened?\ |
| 60 | '''Richard:''' I'll tell you after I've regained consciousness. |
| 61 | * In ''Film/TheLostWeekend'', [[TheAlcoholic Don]] buys two bottles of whiskey for the weekend trip. He wants his brother to find the first one so he would give up searching for the second one. |
| 62 | * Occurs in ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017'' to act as [[RedHerring Red Herrings]] to distract and confuse Poirot that [[spoiler: ''all the passengers'' were involved with the murder]]. |
| 63 | ** [[spoiler: Mary]] flat out refuses to answer Poirot's questions, seemingly because their silence is to cover the fact the former is in an interracial relationship. |
| 64 | ** [[spoiler: [=MacQueen=]]] tries to destroy evidence implicating that they were stealing money from Ratchett. |
| 65 | * In ''Film/TheOtherGuys'', a highly armed crew makes a daring heist into a jewelry store using a wrecking ball. As it turns out, [[spoiler:the real target was not the jewelry store but the adjoining accountancy firm where the "robbers" surreptitiously snuck into and altered the books]]. |
| 66 | * ''Film/TheParallaxView''. IntrepidReporter Joe Frady pretends to be someone accused of exposing himself to a woman in order to get into the Parallax Corporation. As the ex-FBI agent advising him points out, if they investigate the false alias he used to cover up that so-called past, once they get to the second fake alias, they won't bother investigating too much. |
| 67 | * ''Film/Seven1979''. The Professor plants an inflatable sex doll in his luggage, which then inflates when customs opens his bag. Everyone is so embarrassed that they just wave him through without spotting the weapon components he had hidden in his luggage. |
| 68 | * In ''[[Film/SpidermanHomecoming Spider-Man: Homecoming]]'', Ned is tracking the Vulture's cronies' van and giving directions to Peter from his laptop in school. Partway through a teacher comes in and, surprised, demands to know what he's doing. Ned's response is 'I was... looking... at porn'. |
| 69 | * In ''Film/SpyGame'', Muir is under suspicion from his handlers at the CIA's headquarters that he may be trying to free his old protege Bishop from a Chinese prison when they intend to let him die in there for performing an unauthorized operation. Muir fesses up to breaking the rules...by claiming that he was using spy satellites to take photos of prospective beachfront property in the Bahamas for when he retires. The satellite photos he hands over to his interrogators are actually those of the coast near the prison, but combined with other printouts of the beachfront property he actually ''was'' researching for retirement his interrogators buy his explanation; since today is his last day before he retires anyway they don't bother to pursue the matter further. |
| 70 | * ''Film/{{Tenet}}''. The Protagonist wants to steal a painting hidden in a high security warehouse inside an airport. So he hires a crew to highjack a cargo plane carrying gold on the runaway and crash into the warehouse, in order to create a security breach that allows him to enter, with the authorities assuming that it was either an attempt to steal the gold and that the thieves lost control of the plane, or a terrorist attack. |
| 71 | * The TV ReCut of ''Film/TwoMinuteWarning'' has the sniper fire at civilians at a football game to distract the police from a nearby art heist. |
| 72 | * ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. When Film/JamesBond is caught snooping around Osaka Chemicals, he admits to being a spy...that is, an ''industrial'' spy. |
| 73 | * Inverted in ''Film/BillionDollarBrain''. Harry Palmer is sent to make contact with LaResistance in Communist-controlled Latvia. They run a Soviet military truck off the road and loot it, claiming they have to make it look like a robbery. Harry snarks, "Very convincing" as it's obvious the so-called resistance organisation is just a cover for some petty criminals. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 78 | * This joke (various local permutations exist): |
| 79 | -->''Tuan comes up to the border between Vietnam and China on his bicycle. He has two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says, "What's in the bags?"\ |
| 80 | "Rice," answered Tuan.\ |
| 81 | The guard says, "We'll just see about that. Get off the bike." The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but rice. He detains Tuan overnight and has the rice analyzed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure rice in the bags. The guard releases Tuan, puts the rice into new bags, hefts them onto the man's shoulders, and lets him cross the border.\ |
| 82 | A week later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, "What have you got?"\ |
| 83 | "Rice," says Tuan.\ |
| 84 | The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but rice. He gives the rice back to Tuan, and Tuan crosses the border on his bicycle. This sequence of events is repeated every day for three years. Finally, Tuan doesn't show up one day and the guard meets him in a noodles restaurant in Vietnam.\ |
| 85 | "Hey, Buddy," says the guard, "I know you are smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about..... I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?"\ |
| 86 | Tuan sips his beer and says, "Bicycles." '' |
| 87 | ** [[http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/wheelbarrow.asp Here's]] a ''{{WebSite/Snopes}}'' page with more variants on the "stealing bicycles" joke. |
| 88 | ** And he gets a free upgrade on his old bags... |
| 89 | * As well as this joke, which also has many various permutations, about a driver who takes this to a ludicrous extreme against a traffic cop: |
| 90 | -->A lady gets pulled over by a police officer. "You were speeding," he says, "Can I see your license please?"\ |
| 91 | "I don't have one," says the lady. I lost it four times for drunk driving."\ |
| 92 | The police officer is shocked. "Then I need to see your vehicle registration papers!"\ |
| 93 | "I don't have any," she says. "I stole this car to escape after murdering my husband."\ |
| 94 | "You what?!"\ |
| 95 | "His body is in the trunk if you'd like to see."\ |
| 96 | The policeman backs away and calls fore backup. A senior officer arrives and demands the driver exit the vehicle.\ |
| 97 | "Is there a problem, sir?" she asks.\ |
| 98 | "One of my officers told me that you stole this car after murdering your husband! I need you to open your trunk!"\ |
| 99 | She opens the trunk and there's nothing inside.\ |
| 100 | "Is this your vehicle, ma'am?" asks the senior officer.\ |
| 101 | "Yes it is," the lady replies, as she hands over her license and registration.\ |
| 102 | The senior officer is confused. "Ma'am, one of my officers told me you had no license or registration, you stole this car, and that you murdered your husband and stashed his body in the trunk!"\ |
| 103 | "Wow," says the lady, "I bet that lying bastard told you I was speeding too!" |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 107 | * In ''The Boy Who Knew Too Much'' by Roderic Jeffries, a youth breaks into an abandoned factory on a bet and finds himself pursued by masked thugs. He has trouble getting anyone to believe him, but a few days later the criminals steal the copper piping from the building, so the police think that's what it was all about. It's only when the boy remembers that he saw one of the men looking through a telescopic sight that the police realise the building overlooks a nearby prison, and the criminals are planning a jailbreak. |
| 108 | * In one of the ''Literature/CommanderShaw'' spy thrillers by Philip [=McCutchan=], our hero seizes a briefcase full of documents written in Japanese that the villains seem desperate to retrieve from a sinking ship, only to be told on translation that it's a pornographic sex guide. It's only later that they realise it's actually a code. |
| 109 | * In one Creator/GKChesterton mystery, a murder is covered up as a death in a duel. |
| 110 | * In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', Captain Demos lets a few port inspectors find some assorted contraband to keep them from searching too thoroughly for [[NobleFugitive Varg]]. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/DreamPark'': This is part of the plot in ''The California Voodoo Game''. Bishop tries to make everybody [[spoiler:(including his accomplice)]] think that he's trying to fix the Game, but in reality, [[spoiler:he's committing industrial espionage]]. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that nobody believes for a second that this is all that Bishop is really up to, [[spoiler:but {{double subver|sion}}ted in that while they think he's trying to steal information, he's actually trying to find a way to circumvent the security system so that his handlers can steal anything they like in the future]]. |
| 112 | * ''Literature/{{Flashman}}'': An accidental version happens in ''Flashman and the Great Game''. Flashman is posing as a recruit for a native cavalry unit in India. Despite claiming that he has no previous military experience, the OldSoldier quickly spots him as a fraud because Flashman is unconsciously standing the correct distance from his desk, and has bridled his pony in the regulation manner. Fortunately, everyone assumes he's an ex-soldier on the run from a tribal blood feud, rather than a British officer in disguise. |
| 113 | * ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': |
| 114 | ** In ''With One Stone'', some Manticoran spies disposed of their espionage gear so that [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Havenite]] police wouldn't find it, then realized they now had some suspiciously empty suitcases to explain. They got away with it by packing the suitcases with valuables from their room, then pretended they had been caught StealingFromTheHotel. |
| 115 | ** Anton Zilwicki uses the "disreputable" variant in ''Cauldron of Ghosts'', when he needs to carry his computer files on Just What Mesa's Been Up To through Mesan security. If the chips are scanned by standard security gear, they're set to reveal [[PornStash a collection of fetish porn]] -- not illegal, but weird enough that a guard would assume that's the reason for the concealment. |
| 116 | * In "Literature/IfThisGoesOn", Zeb covers up Johnny's obviously guilty reaction to receiving a note from the Resistance by replacing it with one about gambling, because they won't believe innocence but will believe this. |
| 117 | * ''Literature/JohnRain'': In ''Redemption Games'', Rain [[NotSoAboveItAll gleefully mocks Dox]] when he almost takes a [[DudeLooksLikeALady Thai ladyboy]] back to his hotel. Rain realises almost too late that [s]he was separating them for a kidnapping team, the idea being that if the ProperlyParanoid Rain suspected something was off-key, he'd just assume his GutFeeling was reacting to her actually being a man. |
| 118 | * In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', Moist uses SuspiciouslySpecificDenial to imply he's in bed with a woman, to cover up that he's the man who broke into the Post Office. What makes being in bed with a woman an example of this trope is the fact that his girlfriend was currently out of town. |
| 119 | * An interesting variation occurs in ''Literature/PayMeBug''. As the ''Fool's Errand'' is about to be boarded and searched, [[TheCaptain Grif Vindh]] deliberately makes their cargo of fine whiskey easy to find. [[SubvertedTrope But, they aren't doing anything illegal]] ''[[SubvertedTrope besides]]'' [[SubvertedTrope smuggling whiskey]], so there's no apparent reason for this. We find out later that [[DoubleSubversion they actually]] ''[[DoubleSubversion are]]'' [[DoubleSubversion smuggling something else]]: a supply of anagathics[[labelnote:*]]drugs that greatly slow the aging process[[/labelnote]] that are ''way'' more valuable than the whiskey, and that nobody but Vindh knew about. Even later, we find out that the reason nobody on the crew knew about it is that [[spoiler:the original plan ''was'' just to smuggle the whiskey, but the anagathics dropped into Vindh's lap during the pickup due to a [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck freak traffic accident]], so he ran with it]]. |
| 120 | * In ''Literature/PodkayneOfMars'', Podkayne's brother makes a crack about smuggling drugs onto the space ship, thereby preventing the guards from discovering the bomb he hid in her luggage. |
| 121 | * ''Literature/TheQuestForKarla'': In ''Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', [[spoiler:Bill Hayden has an affair with Smiley's wife, so if Smiley ever accused him of being TheMole, people would think Smiley was just acting out of personal dislike. Smiley too would distrust his own instincts for this reason]]. |
| 122 | * There is a variation in Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story "The Singing Bell" when a policeman mentions that every crook tries to get caught ''and'' [[MindProbe Probed]] for a pocket theft. Said Probe is a somewhat risky procedure, and no man can be subjected to it more than once. You do the math. |
| 123 | * In ''Literature/StarmanJones'', Max hitchhikes with a truck driver, who has him sleep in the bed and explains that he will be the off-duty driver all the time, with the driver with him driving longer than regulations permit without sleep. When they hit a checkpoint, the driver is caught not having his asleep partner having signed off, and explains to Max that it kept the guard from digging deeper. |
| 124 | * In Creator/MaryStewart's ''This Rough Magic'', [[spoiler:Godfrey]] admits to smuggling to distract from his actual attempts at [[spoiler:destabilizing nations with counterfeit currency]] and attempted murder. |
| 125 | * ''Literature/TwoMinuteMysteries'': In one of the mysteries, Count Schwinn, head of customs in France, comes in and tells Dr. Haledijan that a notorious criminal with a long history of successful smuggling has been regularly passing customs. He tools up in a shiny high-end car, and when it's searched, everything's fine except the false bottoms in his luggage, which contain three jars, containing molasses, ground oyster shells, and bits of colored glass. It's perfectly legal to have those, so they let him through. But the official ''knows'' he's smuggling ''something''. Dr. Haledijan sits, smokes a bit, and realizes exactly what's being smuggled -[[spoiler:the high-end car]]. |
| 126 | * ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': |
| 127 | ** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''The Warrior's Apprentice'' when Miles and Co. are attempting to smuggle weapons to the Felicians past a blockade by the Oseran mercenaries. After Miles winds up capturing Captain Auson's own ship, Auson figures that Miles had to be smuggling something, particularly with the way that Miles was acting so cowed and meek in order to avoid suspicion. He wonders if Miles is smuggling the ship itself, then wonders who could possibly want such an old, outmoded transport. |
| 128 | ** In ''Labyrinth'', when caught trying to break into a genetic engineering facility, Ensign Murka quickly creates the story that he and his fellows were a bunch of horny soldiers on leave who thought it was the brothel (the company is known for its bordellos). He was booted out with a warning and fine (i.e. the guards stole all his money), but no alarm was raised over a commando raid and Miles, overhearing the exchange, made a mental note to praise and reward the soldier for his quick thinking (In a following story, the same soldier returns as a now-promoted Lieutenant). |
| 129 | ** In ''Mirror Dance'', Miles tells a story about one of his Vorkosigan ancestors who used the "smuggling bicycles" version of the trope to smuggle horses into a besieged city. Though we do not see the mission itself, Miles was telling the story because they were about to do the same thing with ''warships''. |
| 130 | * In the ''Literature/WarriorCatsTheOriginalSeries'' novel ''[[Recap/WarriorCatsForestOfSecrets Forest of Secrets]]'', [[BigBad Tigerclaw]] wants to kill [[BigGood Bluestar]], leader of [=ThunderClan=], so that he can take her position. To do this, he lures a large pack of rogues into [=ThunderClan=] camp, then sneaks into Bluestar's den to kill her with nobody interfering. |
| 131 | * In ''Literature/WingsOfFire'', the [[FugitiveArc fugitive]] main characters are having a secret meeting with three members of [[LaResistance the Chrysalis]] in a library when some [=HiveWing=] guards discover them and decide to search for them. [[BigBad Queen Wasp]], while [[HiveQueen controlling one of the guards]], threatens to burn down the library if they don't reveal themselves, at which point the Chrysalis members come out of hiding and claim they were only servants who were secretly reading after hours, accepting the relatively lesser punishment for this "crime" so they won't get caught for their true actions and the fugitives they were harboring will be safe. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/ZonesOfThought'': In ''A Deepness in the Sky'', Pham Trinly pretends to secretly be an old slave-trader he knew once, letting the villain currently in charge 'discover' it and think he therefore has Pham squarely under his thumb. This "small lie to cover the big one" hides the fact that he is actually Pham Nuwen, the legendary trader, space navigator, and politician, and by far the most dangerous person in the fleet and easily the greatest threat to the villain's rule. |
| 133 | [[/folder]] |
| 134 | |
| 135 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 136 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': |
| 137 | ** Needing direct access to Malcolm Merlyn's mainframe, Team Arrow sneak their hacker Felicity Smoak into the building. Once she's finished and leaves, she runs smack dab into an unexpected security guard. Fortunately John Diggle is also on site posing as a guard. |
| 138 | --->'''Diggle:''' There you are! Thanks a lot man, this one snuck past security. One of Merlyn Jr.'s bimbos; she's pissed he never called her back.\ |
| 139 | '''Security Guard:''' Copy that. I read the tabloids.\ |
| 140 | '''Diggle:''' Yeah, thanks again. ''(to Felicity)'' Let's go, Barbie. Your new last name ain't gonna be Merlyn.\ |
| 141 | '''Felicity:''' ''(Playing along)'' But I love him! He's my ''man''! ''(Out of earshot, grinning and giggling)'' My knight in shining armor!\ |
| 142 | '''Diggle:''' ''(grinning right back)'' Let's go. |
| 143 | ** Diggle is caught by Merlyn's bodyguard pressing a listening device against the wall. He slips the bug into his pocket but is seen doing so, so he then produces a lighter from that same pocket, pretending he stepped away for a quiet smoke. |
| 144 | ** While a prisoner of ComicBook/AmandaWaller, Oliver Queen tries to contact his family via email but is stopped before he can do anything but log into his account. This however is enough to get [[HeterosexualLifePartner Tommy Merlyn]] flying to Hong Kong to investigate, so Waller [[ShootYourMate orders Oliver to assassinate him]]. Instead Oliver kidnaps Tommy and pretends he is a criminal who hacked the account to lure a member of Oliver's wealthy family to Hong Kong so they can be held for ransom. Tommy is then 'rescued' by an A.R.G.U.S. agent posing as a policeman. |
| 145 | * Used more than once in ''Series/TheATeam''. In one episode, [[ConMan Face]] creates forged papers that are already expired. Once the guards see the expiration they stop examining the rest, after which he produces a new document extending the expiration date - by which time the guards have already forgotten about examining the rest of the original paperwork and let them proceed. |
| 146 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': in an early episode, when Skylar catches Walter being in contact with Jesse Pinkman, a known drug dealer, Walter pretends that he buys marijuana[[note]]which is illegal in New Mexico, at least when the episode aired[[/note]] from Jesse rather than admit to their budding meth operation. It's a plausible explanation, as Walter had recently found out about his cancer and was under severe stress: it's believable he would turn to marijuana in those circumstances. |
| 147 | * ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': In the Season 7 finale, Jake and Charles catch the guy who caused the BigBlackout by drunk-driving his car into a power substation. [[SpottingTheThread Except then they notice that he's not only sober, he's a recovering alcoholic who's been clean for two years.]] [[spoiler:He eventually admits that he caused the blackout so his friends could rob a bank.]] |
| 148 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In "Band Candy" Buffy tells her mother that she's training with Giles, then tells Giles that she needs to help her mother. She then goes off to care for Angel, who she hasn't told anyone is BackFromTheDead. She goes home to find Joyce and Giles there comparing notes, so Buffy lets them think she's been neglecting school and Slayer duties by partying at the Bronze. |
| 149 | * ''Series/BurnNotice'': |
| 150 | ** Michael's go-to cover when caught breaking and entering is usually a disgruntled employee or a drunken vandal. |
| 151 | ** In one op, Michael's mom steals data from a detective's computer while Michael distracts him. He can only stall for so long before the detective returns, to find a guilty looking Maddy. "You caught me!" she says, as Michael and the viewers' hearts stop. He caught her sneaking a cigarette, that is. |
| 152 | ** An episode had Michael break into a high security laboratory to put ''back'' a certain item. To "explain" the breach (without implicating the person who'd stolen the thing in the first place), he grabbed a couple of expensive-looking items and tossed them in the trash, so it would look like they'd stolen something else. |
| 153 | * ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': "Chuck Versus The First Bank of Evil" has Chuck and Sarah enlisting the help of Vivian [=McArthur=], the daughter of [[ArcVillain Alexei Volkoff]], to attain information on several international criminals from a corrupt bank. Their plan involves Chuck and Sarah [[RobbingTheMobBank staging a bank robbery]] while Vivian, using her position as a client in the bank, downloads information off the server. |
| 154 | * Inverted in ''Series/{{Community}}'', where Starburns confesses to stealing lab equipment to build a meth lab to get out of being accused of destroying someone's school project. Fortunately, the people he's talking to aren't really cops. |
| 155 | * ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', working for the police department, tends to use his work computer to find information about criminals that he plans to [[SerialKillerKiller track down and murder]]. When Sergeant Doakes once bursts in to find out what the hell Dexter is up to, our dear VillainProtagonist slash AntiHero tries to cover up his activities by quickly filling his screen with porn. Doakes is not amused, and [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow makes it clear that he knows the porn is just a cover for something else]]. |
| 156 | ** Dexter later manages an accidental example when Doakes catches him at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, which he was only attending as part of a lie for his girlfriend. It gets Doakes off his case, at least for a while. |
| 157 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. John Crichton pretends to seduce a BattleaxeNurse who's in charge of Aeryn Sun's interrogation. He then knocks out the nurse and tries to free Aeryn, but is captured. He then tells his captors that he thought Aeryn was HotterAndSexier than the nurse, so decided to have sex with her instead. |
| 158 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. In a DeletedScene of "Our Mrs Reynolds" [[TheCassandra River Tam]] accurately accuses Saffron of [[SpacePirates being a thief]]. Saffron takes out some food she'd stolen from the kitchen. |
| 159 | * ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': |
| 160 | ** Subverted. After finding out that his wife Daphne broke into his confidential files in order to learn more about a patient with a crush on him, Niles furiously reads her the riot act on the seriousness of breaches of doctor-patient confidentiality, and exclaims [[TemptingFate "That is the worst thing you could have done!"]] Daphne replies "You would think so", before reluctantly confessing that actually, she had then stalked the patient in question, used Roz to gain access to the patient's office, and ransacked the place looking for information. |
| 161 | ** Another episode plays it straight, when the Cranes while on a road trip end up taking Daphne into Canada without realizing that her working visa doesn't permit her to cross the border. When they get pulled over by customs on re-entering the United States, everyone's guilty-trying-not-act-guilty appearances immediately convince the customs official that something's up, leading Martin to reluctantly reveal the truth... he doesn't have a permit for Eddie (the dog) to enter the country. On learning that Martin's an ex-cop, the customs official is satisfied with Martin's explanation and lets them pass without ever learning about Daphne. |
| 162 | * One episode of ''Series/TheGoodGuys'' has the VillainOfTheWeek set up a bank robbery to be performed by expendable, unarmed, unwitting henchmen (including [[MinionWithAnFInEvil "the worst getaway driver in the business"]]). This was only meant to draw the entire Dallas police force to that location so that he could set off explosives on the bridge between the cops and his ''real'' target, a jewelry store. [[spoiler:Jack and Dan figure out the plot just in time [[SpannerInTheWorks to scare the thieves off]], but aren't able to catch them. Their presence does make the legitimately dangerous crooks wonder if their ManipulativeBastard boss had set ''them'' up to be the fall-guys, however, leading them all to kill each other off.]] |
| 163 | * ''Series/{{Misfits}}'': The kids need to make sure their latest social worker doesn't find the dead body in her trunk. [[ChaoticStupid Nathan's]] solution is throwing a piece of brick at her windshield. |
| 164 | -->'''Social Worker''': What's wrong with you?! Are you mentally deficient?!\ |
| 165 | '''Nathan''': If I was mentally deficient, [[RefugeInAudacity I would've missed!]] |
| 166 | * Used in ''Series/OrphanBlack'' to hide incriminating evidence. When Donnie realizes that his wife Alison is trying to open a locked box in the garage, he replaces the contents with porn videos in the hope that she will think that's what he was trying to hide and stop looking further. |
| 167 | * ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Slush Fund", Bodie is searching a house but the wife returns home unexpectedly. He quickly pockets some silverware and pretends to be an opportunistic burglar who's down on his luck after losing his job. Fortunately she elects to just throw him out instead of calling the police (which wouldn't be a problem except that Cowley would find out he messed up). |
| 168 | * An episode of ''Series/RepublicOfDoyle'' begins with Des being arrested ([[NoodleImplements while wearing a snorkel]]) after robbing a convenience store and a male strip club while drunk, and leading every police officer in St. John's across the city to distract them from the ''real'' target that evening, a priceless statue. |
| 169 | * ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Pullo suspects that Evander Pulchio is having an affair with the wife of his best friend Vorenus, and along with a teenage Octavian they kidnap and torture him. Pulchio quickly confesses to the affair, but Octavian is suspicious and insists that Pullo keep torturing him until he cracks and admits the real secret -- that he's actually fathered a child with her. |
| 170 | * A variation in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', episode ''The Great Game'': Sherlock immediately deduces that Molly's new boyfriend Jim is secretly gay. [[spoiler: Jim plays that particular role so that Sherlock would ignore him due to the belief that the former's interest in him was a mere romantic infatuation, which covered up the fact that he was interested in Sherlock because he is Jim ''Moriarty'', DiabolicalMastermind and the show's [[ArchEnemy major villain]]]]. |
| 171 | * ''Series/ATouchOfFrost''. In "Conclusions", the son of a politician decides to cover his gambling debts by robbing the casino, so as an alibi he gets his girlfriend to drive around at night in his car, knocking into things so he can plead guilty to a Driving Under the Influence charge. [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections He's used to getting away with this]], but unfortunately his girlfriend backs into someone in the dark and kills them, leaving him facing a far more serious charge. |
| 172 | * ''Series/{{V 1983}}''. [[TheQuisling Donovan's mother]] catches him breaking into her house to steal a security pass. He pretends he was there to steal a photo of his son, which fortunately he'd seen and pocketed on a whim. |
| 173 | * ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}''. One's provided by the villain when undercover federal agent Vinnie Terranova examines a vehicle for evidence that it was involved in the hit-and-run murder of his brother. The driver catches him, but thinks he's sniffing fumes instead. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 177 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'': A few citizens have registered mutations they don't actually have, such as chronic runny nose (his real mutation was about to be reported, but citizens with multiple mutations are nearly unheard of) or temporary blindness (so he could take bribes from fellow traitors to look the other way). |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 181 | * In ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'', 47 must kill a rich hacker who's having a party with women in his jacuzzi inside the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. He must also steal money in the man's safe so it'll be covered as a robbery gone wrong. |
| 182 | * In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'', Sam Fisher has to track down a dangerous algorithm from a server within the safe of a bank in Panama and steal ''$50 million'' in it as cover up. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 186 | * Done frequently in the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series - some villain or other will use a minor crime as a cover for a far larger one, in some manner or other. |
| 187 | ** For example, in the third game, a villain arranges for himself to be caught on video committing theft, in order to give himself an alibi for a murder that took place at the same time. |
| 188 | ** In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', another villain sets up a justified self-defense homicide to cover up a premeditated murder. |
| 189 | ** Of course, killers always commit perjury on the stand, however apart from the three examples in which they confess to a smaller crime, these lies are intended to be that...lies, and so they expect people to not even know they committed a crime anyway. |
| 190 | [[/folder]] |
| 191 | |
| 192 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 193 | * ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'' [[http://impurebloodwebcomic.com/comic/chapter-7/page-39/ Pose as carnie "freaks", to hide the half blood with you.]] |
| 194 | * ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': After a battle that had quite dire consequences, Reynir uses TalkingInYourDreams to check on senior mage Onni, who helped long-distance during the battle, and is also the older brother to the person who got hit with the battle's consequences the hardest. For that very reason, everyone has agreed to let Onni's younger sister Tuuri tell him the news herself over the radio in the real world once Onni recovers from his PowerStrainBlackout, which basically left him in ConvenientComa. As one can expect, the first thing Onni asks Reynir is how his family members are doing and HesitationEqualsDishonesty kicks in when Reynir tries to claim that everyone in the crew is fine. When Onni asks what Reynir is hiding from him, Reynir tells Onni that he's worried about the comparatively minor consequences the battle had for another member of the crew that is not related to Onni, about whom Onni only cares in terms of their capacity to protect Tuuri and Reynir. |
| 195 | [[/folder]] |
| 196 | |
| 197 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 198 | * [[http://www.cracked.com/article_15661_harry-potter-book-disguises.html Cracked.com's Harry Potter Book Jacket Disguises]] for guys who don't want to get caught reading ''Harry Potter''. |
| 199 | * In Creator/IlonaAndrews's ''One Fell Swoop'', inverted. A police officer can read aliens the riot act in public without breaking TheMasquerade because the patrol car makes all the humans concentrate on following the speed limit and otherwise not getting caught. |
| 200 | * One video has a young man filming himself while wearing in women's clothing. When his mother knocks and asks what he's doing, he panics and stammers out "Drugs!". |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 204 | * Done twice in ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': |
| 205 | ** In "Lobsterfest", the kids try to convince Bob that they are looking at porn when actually, they are studying a pamphlet for the lobster festival - Which is something Bob is against, since seafood festivals take away attention from his burger restaurant. |
| 206 | ** In "Hamburger Dinner Theatre", Linda claims that she's going to a stag party at a strip club. Actually, she's going to a dinner theatre performance. Again, this is something Bob is against, because watching dinner theatre performances makes Linda [[LargeHam hammy]]. He even says outright that he would have ''preferred'' it if she was going to a strip club. |
| 207 | * On ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', [[DragonWithAnAgenda the Weird Sisters]] actually manage to get away with this: they have Demona and Macbeth steal the [[TimeTravel Phoenix Gate]], the [[ADarkerMe Eye of Odin]], the [[SpellBook Grimorum Arcanorum]], and [[{{Cyborg}} Coldstone's]] body. As Coldstone is much larger and more noticeable, and as the other three objects were only being held by the Gargoyles to keep it out of other people's hands, they only initially notice Coldstone's absence, which was [[BatmanGambit exactly what the Weird Sisters were hoping for]]. |
| 208 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In "Where's Perry? - Part 1", Doofenshmirtz had an inator that'd keep everyone's gym equipment locked away so people would be too out of shape to prevent him from taking over. After Perry the Platypus destroyed that inator and left, Doof revealed to Norm that was just to trick Perry into thinking he wasn't up to anything else. Doof's real plan was using another inator to turn Major Monogram evil so he'd take over the O.W.C.A. |
| 209 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. In "Hera's Heroes", Hera Syndulla attempts to recover the Kalikori from her ancestral home, now being used as Imperial headquarters, but is caught red-handed by Grand Admiral Thrawn, so she pretends to be a servant who stole it to sell in the market. Unfortunately Thrawn has studied her culture and knows the Kalikori is worthless to anybody outside the Syndulla family, tipping him off as to her real identity. |
| 210 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Mr. Plow": |
| 211 | -->'''Insurance Agent''': Now this place you were at, Moe's, is this a business of some sort?\ |
| 212 | '''Homer's Brain''': Don't tell him you were at a bar! (gasps) But what else is open at night?!\ |
| 213 | '''Homer''': It's a pornography store. I was buying pornography.\ |
| 214 | '''Homer's Brain''': Heh heh heh. I would'a never thought of that. |
| 215 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': |
| 216 | ** [[HumanoidAbomination Klarion]] and his allies cast a spell that splits the world in two, with one dimension for adults and one for children and teens. While the heroes are eventually able to trace the magic to its source and stop them, they fail to notice that in the confusion, [[ArchnemesisDad Sportsmaster]] and [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass the Riddler]] [[spoiler:steal Starro's tissue sample from STAR Labs]]. Klarion's colleague [[BrainInAJar the Brain]] even {{lampshade}}s the fact that causing a ''world-wide catastrophe'' for the cover-up was "''[[PoirotSpeak peut-etre]]'' extreme," but that's Klarion for you. (Which is why it works--Klarion loves [[ForTheLulz chaos for chaos' sake]], so the heroes have no reason to expect a larger plan.) |
| 217 | ** "Revelation" was a similar situation--[[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Light]] realized that the heroes might suspect a LegionOfDoom had been organized, so they had one of their minions, Count Vertigo, organize a ''separate'' LegionOfDoom, the Injustice League, that openly attacked several major cities around the world. The heroes took them down and assumed the crisis was averted, leaving the real {{Big Bad}}s free to keep scheming. (Though interestingly, the Light was wrong--the heroes ''didn't'' really suspect a wider plan before the Injustice League made themselves known.) |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 221 | * Picture this: you receive an email attempting to sucker you with an almost-laughably anachronistic and tired scam: [[FourOneNineScam the "Nigerian prince" that needs a small transfer of money]], and in return will provide a large reward. "Ha! I am much too canny to fall for this rudimentary con! What century are these scammers living in, anyway?" Perhaps the scammer is simply incompetent. But in a [[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WhyFromNigeria.pdf 2012 paper published by Microsoft]], researchers suggested that by intentionally using anachronistic and almost cartoonishly hackneyed tactics such as the "Nigerian prince" scam, a scammer could weed out potential "false positives" and improve their "hit rate" significantly. To illustrate this, imagine you're a scammer. It's relatively expensive (in terms of time and effort) to successfully pull off a scam. This is because each successful scam provides only a small marginal profit, due to the time it takes to correspond with them and the limited quantity of cash marks are willing to front for a promised "reward." Add to this the potential overhead cost of dealing with false positives (victims that consume time and resources but yield no profit) and the problem of victim selection becomes highly relevant. By using a routine that all but the most gullible person will easily identify as a scam, scammers gain a significant advantage, successfully decreasing their false/true positive ratio for a marked increase in efficiency. |
| 222 | * This is the principle behind [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption "deniable encryption"]] systems, designed to address the situation where someone in possession of encrypted files is coerced (by physical force or plea bargaining, say) into handing over the decryption key. These systems allow data to be hidden on [[MultilayerFacade several different "layers"]], each requiring a separate key to access the data - for example, someone could store their [[PornStash porn collection]] at the first layer, {{squick}}ier porn at the second layer, and military state secrets at the third. The trick is that it's mathematically impossible for the interrogator to know how many layers are in use (and it is also possible to have more than one volume at the same layer, for example having two second- or third-layer volumes), since anything they haven't decrypted yet is indistinguishable from random garbage - so at any point the subject can plausibly claim that they've handed over all the keys they have, and the interrogator has no way to be sure whether they're dealing with an actual spy or just a very paranoid pervert. |
| 223 | * After 9/11, TSA employees were rigorously trained to catch the various items newly banned from airplane carry-on baggage. A test of the system found that the security officers would often spot a lighter - and miss the bomb parts in the same bag. |
| 224 | * If one is being ''almost'' [[CaughtWithYourPantsDown caught doing something]] (be it porn or a GuiltyPleasure or something else), it's always better to have something else to be "caught" with, thus explaining both being flustered and avoiding the awkward silence that occurs when you are found staring at your blank desktop all the time with. As one Website/YouTube commenter put it: |
| 225 | -->'''Commenter:''' My mom walked in while I was watching [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP]]. Luckily I managed to alt-tab to my porn. |
| 226 | * [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Limited_hangout "Limited hangout"]] is a technique of attempting to defuse a scandal by admitting to some misdeeds in the hope of convincing people that you've come clean and there is nothing more to be discovered. |
| 227 | * This trick was used by an escaping Allied POW in WWII. The POW was stuck in a train station, unable to leave because a group of Nazi soldiers were guarding the exits and checking papers. Knowing that trying to bluff his way past wasn't going to work, he snatched the suitcase from the nearest commuter and sprinted straight past the guards out of the exit. Not interested in a mere thief, the Nazis didn't chase him. |
| 228 | * [[http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1370-5-insane-things-i-learned-about-drugs-as-undercover-agent.html This Cracked.com]] article talks about some of the methods drug smugglers use. One method of keeping the smugglers' cars from being noticed is to have a "heat" car go barreling down the highway at full speed and get pulled over for speeding. While the police are detaining the driver, the actual smuggler drives by undetected. |
| 229 | * When the tide of public opinion started to turn against Al Capone, he attempted to resort to this tactic by committing a traffic violation in Philadelphia. |
| 230 | * Back in the days of the Hays Office, movie directors would sometimes include in their scripts that were submitted for approval by the censors things that the censors would obviously object to and remove, in the hope that [[CensorDecoy that would distract them from stuff that the directors didn't want removed]]. For example, Creator/OrsonWelles submitted a script for ''Film/CitizenKane'' that included a scene in a brothel, knowing fully well that the censors would never allow it, in the hope that it would distract them from other stuff in the movie that they might otherwise censor. |
| 231 | * During the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the US Air Force hid the development of the F-117 stealth fighter by running a different top secret program (using actual captured [=MiGs=] to train Air Force and Navy pilots how to fight them) at the same airfield, so that any hostile spy trying to unravel the secret of what was going on would find the [=captured-MiG=] program and stop there. |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
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