History Main / InfractionDistraction

* In ''Film/{{Tenet}}, the protagonist wants to steal a painting hidden in saferoom in a highly securised warehouse near an airport. So he hires a crew to highjack a plane carrying gold and crash into the warehouse, in order to create a security breach that allows him to enter while hiding the true reason for the plane crash (with authorities assuming that it was either an attempt to steal the gold and that the thieves lost control of the plane, or an attempt at a terrorist attack).

-->'''Naomi:''' What are you working on anyway, we both know you're Kira.
-->'''Light:''' I'm not working on anything.
-->'''Naomi:''' Then why the laptop?
-->'''Light:''' [[TheInternetIsForPorn ... Porn...]]
-->'''Naomi:''' Wow, that is the most boring pornography I have ever seen. This is porn for you?

* 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."

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein loved this trope, not only using it but making it a piece of wisdom for the Mentor to hand on.
** 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.
** 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.
** 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.
* Literature/VorkosiganSaga:
** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice'' 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.
** 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).
** In ''Literature/MirrorDance'', 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''.
* In Mary Stewart'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.

* ''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.
* This is part of the plot in ''Literature/TheCaliforniaVoodooGame''. Bishop tries to make everybody [[spoiler:including his accomplice]] think he's trying to fix the Game, but in reality [[spoiler:he's committing industrial espionage]]. Averted in that nobody believes for a second that's all Bishop is really up to, [[spoiler:but subverted again 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]].
* There is a variation in Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''The Singing Bell'', where a policeman mentions 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.
* ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]]'':
** 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.
** 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.

* 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.
* 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.

* ''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 just on the run from a tribal blood feud, rather than a British officer in disguise.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
** 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.
** 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.
* 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]]]].
* ''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]].
** Dexter later manages an accidental example when Doakes catches him at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, which he was only attending as part of lie for his girlfriend. It gets Doakes off his case, at least for a while.

* 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.
* 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.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Michael's go-to cover when caught breaking and entering is usually a disgruntled employee or a drunken vandal.
** 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.

-->'''Social Worker''': What's wrong with you?! Are you mentally deficient?!
-->'''Nathan''': If I was mentally deficient, [[RefugeInAudacity I would've missed!]]
* ''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.

* ''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.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': in an early episode, when Skylar catches Walter being in contact with Jessie 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 Jessie 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.

* ''Les Brigades du Tigre''. 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.

* In one of the Commander Shaw 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.

** In ''Literature/StarmanJones'', Matt 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 Matt that it kept the guard from digging deeper.

** Needing direct access to Merlyn's mainframe in his office building to find some info, 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.

** Diggle is caught by Malcolm'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.
** 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 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.

-->'''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.\\

** 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 [[HetrosexualLifePartner Tommy Merlyn]] flying to Hong Kong to investigate, so Waller 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.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Needing direct access to Merlyn's mainframe in his office building to find some info, Team Green Arrow sneak Felicity into the building, providing cover. Once she's finished and leaves, she runs smack dab into an unexpected security guard. Fortunately Diggle is on site also posing as a guard.

'''Felicity:''' ''(Playing along)'' But I love him! He's my ''man''! ''(Out of earshot, grinning and giggling)'' My KnightInShiningArmor!\\

* 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.

** In ''Literature/PodkayneOfMars'', Podkayne's brother makes a crack about smuggling drugs onto the space ship, thereby preventing the guards from discoving the bomb he hid in her luggage.

** 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 soldier 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).

* In Mary Steward'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.

-->--'''Sam Starfall''', ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}''

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 hidden under its cargo.

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. If a character points out some other, unassociated character's wrongdoing, that's GoLookAtTheDistraction. 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]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Felicity is detained by a security guard in a restricted area while doing a DeliveryGuyInfiltration. Fortunately Diggle is working security there; he thanks the other guard for catching Felicity and hustles her out of the building, claiming she's a StalkerWithACrush after the playboy son of the building owner.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Felicity is detained by a security guard in a restricted area while doing a DeliveryGuyInfilatration. Fortunately Diggle is working security there; he thanks the other guard for catching Felicity and hustles her out of the building, claiming she's a StalkerWithACrush after the playboy son of the building owner.

* At one point in the ''Fanfic/InfiniteLoops'', 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."

* 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.
-->'''Sheryl:''' What happened?\\
'''Richard:''' I'll tell you after I've regained consciousness.
* Inverted in the plots of the [[Film/DieHard first]] and [[Film/DieHardWithAVengeance third]] ''Franchise/DieHard'' movies; thefts are disguised by terrorist attacks.

* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. When Film/JamesBond is caught snooping around Osaka Chemicals, he admits to being a spy...that is, an ''industrial'' spy.

* 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.
* 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.

* 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.
* ''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.
* ''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.]]

* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. Film/JamesBond claims to be an industrial spy after being caught snooping around Osaka Chemicals.

* In ''Seven'' (the 1979 film), 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.

* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/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.