History Main / FakingAndEntering

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Drawing the Dead", the wife of one VictimOfTheWeek discovered her husband's body and realised that her son had killed his father. She attempts to disguise the murder as a burglary gone wrong. Barnaby's EurekaMoment comes when a witness describes hearing the sound of breaking glass ''after'' she heard the scream of the woman discovering the body.

Alice comes home to discover a RansackedRoom, the window broken and her laptop and all her jewelry missing. Clearly she's been the victim of a burglary and with the thief long gone there's no chance she'll ever catch the culprit.

However, the true culprit isn't some opportunistic burglar, it is in fact Bob, who even now is pretending to console Alice for her loss. Bob only needed to steal the secrets hidden on Alice's laptop and as Alice's trusted friend, had the door key to let himself in in order to do so. However, by trashing the room, smashing the window and taking other valuables, Bob has left enough {{red herring}}s that no one will suspect his involvement.

* Combine with a TrickAndFollowPloy by watching as the break-in victim immediately goes to check whether the valuable hidden item had been taken.

Even if the break-in is genuine and the valuables are kept, the key factor of this trope is that the the burglary is used to mislead and misdirect somehow.

* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': A variation happens in ''That Yellow Bastard''. Hartigan sees that Nancy's house has been broken into and suspects that it was the Rourke family who has kidnapped her. It turns out that the whole thing was a RedHerring. Her apartment break in was a separate crime but he ended up rushing to her job, leading the bad guys right to her.

* In ''Film/TheFugitive'', Dr. Richard Kimble is sent to death row [[InheritanceMurder for killing his wife as way of getting ahold of the insurance payout]], despite insisting that a one-armed man was the killer. Late in the film, he finds out that [[spoiler:the one-armed former cop, Sykes, was hired [[BigBadFriend by his friend Dr. Charles Nichols]] to murder Kimble, [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident and make it seem like a botched burglary]], but Kimble was able to fight him off and call the police]]. However, it all worked for the best since after Kimble's wife was murdered, [[spoiler:[[MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence the police investigation made it seem like Kimble murdered his wife and sentenced him to death]], while Nichols and Sykes got off Scott-free]].

* ''Film/MatchPoint'' has a very dark one: [[spoiler:protagonist Chris murders his mistress Nola, and (probably) their unborn child, by breaking into Nola's neighbour's appartment, murdering the neighbour, and then murdering Nola as if that's an accidental "collateral damage" of the breaking-in. In reality, not breaking in, and not murdering the neighbour, but murdering Nola was the real goal]].

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': After circumstances result in an antagonistic character getting killed in self-defense in her own appartment, the two protagonists present start ransacking the place to make it look like look like it was robbery that went wrong. When one of them finds something they consider worth stealing in the process, they promptly take it.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In "The Elephant's Child", Helen wanted to run the solarium and sauna. Unfortunately, she does not have the money to do so. To resolve this issue, she engineers a break-in of the centre with Julie so that she can take her fur-coat so that she can claim it was stolen, and get insurance for it. Unfortunately for her, the plan is complicated by Julie giving birth in the centre.

* Goes not quite as planned in an episode of ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''. Doug and Carry want to get rid of an awful painting which was a present by the Palmers, so they tell Danny and Spence to fake-burgle their house and "steal" it. To lend the story some credibility, Spence and Danny are supposed to [[RansackedRoom leave behind a chaotic mess]] in the Heffernan's living room. In the end, their "chaos" only consists of a couch pillow lying on the floor. Needless to say, this doesn't really serve to convince the Palmers very much.

** This story is based on a [[UnreliableNarrator probably fake]] story given to Wired magazine by a diamond thief where he claimed that he was an unwitting pawn in insurance fraud by several diamond merchants in Antwerp's Diamond District, the diamond capital of the world. According to his story he only got roughly 50 million worth of diamonds while 100-400 million were reported stolen. The problem with his story is that only 15 million in insurance claims were filed. A reconstruction of this told in the book ''Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History''. Though this idea would probably work however as there is a massive amount of black market sales in the diamond business.

** In "Mr. Monk Is The Best Man", while Captain Stottlemeyer is on the verge of getting married to TK, her maid of honor kills a former associate from her days as an ecoterrorist. However, when she's pulled over and arrested for speeding, she's forced to hide the gun in Stottlemeyer's tuxedo garment bag so it isn't discovered by the cops. Subsequently, upon being released from jail, she goes to great lengths to try and get access to the bag so she can recover and dispose of the gun, eventually resorting to making fake threats against Stottlemeyer and TK, including a staged break-in at Stottlemeyer's house, in an effort to get them to call off the wedding.

** In "Mr. Monk Buys a House", [[CrookedContractor Honest Jake Phillips]] kills his girlfriend when he realizes Monk has found out she murdered her former patient, and fakes evidence of a burglary at her house, not that it does much to fool Monk.
* ''Series/SMTVLive'' had a segment which was a parody of ''Series/BillAndBen'' where Ant and Dec's characters started vandalising their own homes so they could claim insurance.
* Happened a few times in ''Series/{{CSI}}'' and spin offs, including one Las Vegas episode where a woman had replaced a diamond in a ring with a fake and claimed the thief had swapped the stone when the jewels were returned.

** Gary and Lauren do get robbed at the bakery, but they lie to Val about ''who'' did it, so that she doesn't find out they were grifted by a [[EnfantTerrible girl scout]]. (In Gary's defense, the kid [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicked his already-injured leg]].)

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* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Elsa Schneider ransacks her own room as well as Indiana's, making Indiana blame an unknown third party rather than her.
* In the Creator/WillSmith movie ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'', Reynolds' goons thrash Dean's house, both because they're looking for the hidden file (which isn't in the house at the time) and so they can place bugs in both the house and Dean's clothes without anyone questioning any inconsistencies. They also steal his blender, just because.
* ''Film/DialMForMurder'' has burglary as a cover for an attempt at premeditated murder.

* In ''Film/TheFugitive'', Dr. Richard Kimble is sent to death row [[InheritanceMurder for killing his wife as way of getting ahold of the insurance payout,]] despite insisting that a one armed man was the killer. Late in the film, he finds out that [[spoiler: the one armed former cop, Sykes, was hired [[BigBadFriend by his friend Dr. Charles Nichols]] to murder Kimble, [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident and make it seem like a botched burglary,]] but Kimble was able to fight him off and call the police.]] However, it all worked for the best since after Kimble's wife was murdered, [[spoiler: [[MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence the police investigation made it seem like Kimble murdered his wife and sentenced him to death,]] while Nichols and Sykes got off Scott-free.]]

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* Used several times in the Literature/CherubSeries, either to plant bugs or retrieve information.
* ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': [[spoiler:The very first case in the series, in which a man accuses known burglar Natty Nat of robbing his store when he'd really spent the money and didn't want his partner to know]] involves this.

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* In an episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', a diamond seller has some thieves steal a shipment of his diamonds so he can claim the insurance while selling the diamonds on the black market.
** This story is based on a [[UnreliableNarrator probably fake]] story given to Wired magazine by a diamond thief where he claimed that he was an unwitting pawn in insurance fraud by several diamond merchants in Antwerp's Diamond District, the diamond capital of the world. According to his story he only got roughly 50 million worth of diamonds while 100-400 million were reported stolen. The problem with his story is that only 15 million in insurance claims were filed. A reconstruction of this told in the book Flawless:Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History. Though this idea would probably work however as there is a massive amount of black market sales in the diamond business.
* Burglary as a cover for premeditated murder has happened [[LongRunner many, many times]] on ''Series/LawAndOrder''. Frequently a witness or beat cop will suggest "robbery gone wrong" as the motive for a crime before being shot down by the detectives. Other times the burglary is more carefully staged and provides a red herring for a good hunk of the episode. And sometimes [[SubvertedTrope it really was a burglar]], although there will typically be more to it than a simple robbery.
* Goes not quite as planned in an episode of ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''. Doug and Carry want to get rid of an awful painting which was a present by the Palmers, so they tell Danny and Spence to fake-burgle their house and "steal" it. To lend the story some credibility, Spence and Danny are supposed to [[RansackedRoom leave behind a chaotic mess]] in the Heffernan's living room. In the end, their "chaos" only consists of a couch pillow lying on the floor. Needless to say, this doesn't really serve to convince the Palmers very much.
* Many, perhaps most ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' villains have disguised their premeditated murders as burglaries or other crimes, usually giving themselves an apparently airtight alibi simultaneously. Columbo's first opponent, Dr. Ray Flemming in "[[Recap/ColumboS00E01 Prescription: Murder]]", disguised his wife's murder as a burglary and made it look like it happened while he was out of the country. Columbo's second opponent, Leslie Williams in "[[Recap/ColumboS00E02 Ransom for a Dead Man]]", murders her husband and disguises it as an elaborate fake kidnapping.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism", Annie breaks Abed's [[BrokenTreasure limited ''Dark Knight'' DVD]] and fakes a break-in to cover up the disappearance of the DVD. It takes Abed [[BatDeduction about three seconds to work out]] it was an InsideJob, which he then [[EntertaininglyWrong blames on the landlord]].
* ''Series/TheBarrier'': After circumstances result in an antagonistic character getting killed in self-defense in her own appartment, the two protagonists present start ransacking the place to make it look like look like it was robbery that went wrong. When one of them finds something they consider worth stealing in the process, they promptly take it.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Drawing the Dead", the wife of one VictimOfTheWeek discovered her husband's body and realised that her son had killed his father. She attempts to disguise the murder as a burglary gone wrong. Barnaby's EurekaMoment comes when a witness describes hearing the sound of breaking glass ''after'' she heard the scream of the woman discovering the body.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In "The Elephant's Child", Helen wanted to run the solarium and sauna. Unfortunately, she does not have the money to do so. To resolve this issue, she engineers a break-in of the centre with Julie so that she can take her fur-coat so that she can claim it was stolen, and get insurance for it. Unfortunately for her, the plan is complicated by Julie giving birth in the centre.
* ''Series/LeBureauDesLegendes'': Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, arranges a burglary [[spoiler:at Marina's supervisor's home]] so that she will use her office desktop instead of her laptop.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': In season 5, Bree decides she wants a divorce from Orson after he becomes a kleptomaniac and indirectly causes the death of Edie Britt. However, by law Orson would be entitled to half her assets, including half the income she makes from her catering company since she started it while they were married. As a result, she hires the sleaziest divorce lawyer in town, Susan's ex-husband Karl Mayer, and they stage a fake burglary to hide her assets until the divorce is finalized. While they're staging the scene, Karl goes out of his way to do a little extra ransacking because, as he puts it, "This place has to look like it was ransacked by robbers, not someone's personal shopper." Unfortunately, Bree makes the mistake of hiding the "stolen" items in a storage unit she is renting under her own name, so not only does Orson quickly find out what really happened, the fact that he had already reported the theft to their insurance provider means he now has leverage to blackmail her by threatening to report her to the police for insurance fraud.

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However, the true culprit isn't some opportunistic burglar, it is in fact Bob, who even now is pretending to console Alice for her loss. Bob only needed to steal the secrets hidden on Alice's laptop and as Alice's trusted friend, had the door key to let himself in in order to do so. However, by trashing the room, smashing the window and taking other valuables, Bob has left enough red herrings that no one will suspect his involvement.

* In a Trapper Keeper commercial, one student answers that he lost his homework after aliens ransacked his room.

* In the Will Smith movie ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'', Reynolds' goons thrash Dean's house, both because they're looking for the hidden file (which isn't in the house at the time) and so they can place bugs in both the house and Dean's clothes without anyone questioning any inconsistencies. They also steal his blender, just because.
* ''Film/DialMForMurder'' has burglary as a cover for premeditated murder.

* Goes not quite as planned in an episode of ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''. Doug and Carry want to get rid of an awful painting which was a present by the Palmers, so they tell Danny and Spence to fake-burgle their house and "steal" it. To lend the story some credibility, Spence and Danny are supposed to [[RansackedRoom leave behind a chaos]] in the Heffernan's living room. In the end, their "chaos" only consists of a couch pillow lying on the floor. Needless to say, this doesn't really serve to convince the Palmers very much.

** After Bart accidentally sets fire to the Christmas tree and destroys all of the family's presents, he claims that a burgular broke in and stole everything.

* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': In season 5, Bree decides she wants a divorce from Orson after he becomes a kleptomaniac and indirectly causes the death of Edie Britt. However, by law Orson would be entitled to half her catering business since she started the company while they were married. As a result, she hires the sleaziest divorce lawyer in town, Susan's ex-husband Karl Mayer, and they stage a fake burglary to hide her assets from Orson. Unfortunately, Bree makes the mistake of hiding the "stolen" artifacts in a storage unit she is renting under her own name, so not only does Orson quickly find out what really happened, he now has leverage to blackmail her by threatening to report her to the police for insurance fraud.

** A fake break-in to trick the victim into thinking they're under threat was used on an episode involving Capt. Stottlemeyer's fiance and a tuxedo garment bag.
** Fake burglary as a cover for murder has shown up a lot in ''Monk''. When Creator/BradGarrett's character stabs and kills his girlfriend in "Mr. Monk Buys a House", this is what he does, for instance.
** In "Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend," the killer tried breaking a pane of glass to make it look like she broke into the house where the murder happened.

* Many, perhaps most ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' villains have disguised their premeditated murders as burglaries or other crimes, usually giving themselves an apparently airtight alibi simultaneously. Columbo's first opponent, Dr. Ray Flemming in "Prescription: Murder", disguised his wife's murder as a burglary and made it look like it happened while he was out of the country. Columbo's second opponent, Leslie Williams in "Ransom for a Dead Man", murders her husband and disguises it as an elaborate fake kidnapping.