History Main / UnintentionallyNotoriousCrime

** A minor example occurs on another episode: a school science teacher finds out the hard way that her husband is [[YourCheatingHeart not only two-timing her]], [[spoiler:but has had [[SecretOtherFamily a completely different family for years (including children)]], and has gone so far as using stuff he'd learnt from living with her and helping ''his'' children ''with'' her to help them]], [[ExternalCombustion and decides to create a bomb to rig to his rental car]] [[DeathByWomanScorned and blow him to kingdom come when he goes off on one of his "business trips"]]. The "unintentionally notorious" part of the Trope happens because, as the rented car [[SpannerInTheWorks had faulty clock wiring]], it didn't explode until the man had already given it back to the agency and was picked up by a U.S. Air Marshal. It is mentioned a couple of times throughout the episode before she is arrested that whoever created the bomb will be tried as a terrorist.

* The person who leaked Ashley Madison's servers was most likely trying to expose people guilty of YourCheatingHeart to their spouses, which in all honesty is mostly karmic justice... for most of its users. But in places such as Saudi Arabia, many people were using it to have homosexual affairs while they were acting as TheBeard in their married life... and in Saudi Arabia and several other countries, [[DisproportionateRetribution homosexuality is punishable by death]].

** "The End": Frank and a fellow maximum security inmate are the last two people on Earth, Frank having killed off the super-rich who'd hidden away in bunkers while WW III went nuclear. Frank then asks him why he was in max despite not being a hardened killer or hardened criminal, and it turns out a few years back he'd been in involved in an insurance scam and set empty apartment blocks on fire... except the last job set fire to an elementary school. Frank kills him too, shortly before the radiation takes him.

* In ''FanFic/OriginStory'', Alex Harris and the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} decide to strike back and Norman Osborn by stealing a shipping container from a secure dock (they're inspired to do it by a similar scene in Film/LethalWeapon2), thinking they'll net maybe a couple of million dollars in cash. Turns out the container they steal contains over 10 '''''billion''''' dollars in cash, plus a car, plus a stack of high-grade plasma-screen TV's, plus around $300,000 in really high-grade champagne. The theft is enough to cause Oscorp stock to drop thirty points.

** A one-shot comic also has Batman putting special effort into solving a murder and catching the killers, because the victim, Matthew Akins, was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, something that the Riddler (reformed at the time and working as a PrivateInvestigator) picks up on.

* In one of ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho''[='=] sequels; a forest witch who was feeling lonely enchanted and effectively kidnapped some likable strangers... who happened to be the KingIncognito with his entourage. After the problem was resolved, she said something to the effect of "WhyDidntYouJustSaySo -- I'm crazy, not stupid".

When the story focuses on detectives (or other law enforcement) investigating this trope, it's often either revealed as a humorous twist (the "master criminal" turns out to be some lowlife in the wrong place at the wrong time) or a red herring (if a crime appears to be this trope, [[GonnaNeedABiggerWarrant it'll usually be subverted]]). When the trope is in effect from the start and played straight to the end, it's usually so that there's a reason the detectives will be under pressure to solve the case.

** In one of the season finales of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', the team are drinking in a bar when [[spoiler:the place is shot up in a drive by]]. The first episode of the next series reveals that the attackers were just planning an elaborate extortion plot and didn't know there were police in the bar.

** In one of the season finales of ''[[Series/CSINewYork CSI: NY]]'', the team are drinking in a bar when [[spoiler:the place is shot up in a drive by]]. The first episode of the next series reveals that the attackers were just planning an elaborate extortion plot and didn't know there were police in the bar.

* There is an episode of ''Series/CHiPS'' where someone steals a car that had the owner's baby still in the car, escalating their crime from joyriding to kidnapping.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': in one episode, a criminal conspiracy kidnaps Dr Jackson and Major Carter as part of a ploy. Their boss is a bit smarter than his henchmen and is ''furious'' with them for doing so, because he had hoped to fly under the radar, but now that he's kidnapped two of the lead members of one of the most top-secret projects on the planet, his operation just shot way up on the government's thread list.

* In the ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' episode "Embraced by a Disguised Net – CAPTIVATED", a member of an OrganLegging gang accidentally kidnaps the daughter of a politician who was denying their existence. The team are able to take advantage of this trope by having the politician denounce the gang to make the kidnapper panic (they know she's a professional who won't kill the girl). [[spoiler:It turns out that [[UnknownCharacter a rival]] had given her a list which included the politician's daughter so she'd be branded a traitor.]]

** One story follows a bunch of mooks (also involved in insurance scams) who have the extreme misfortune of being seen at work by Frank. The sole survivor gets increasingly jittery, and goes from connected criminal to mob boss in the hopes of finding one powerful enough to protect him. Needless to say, all he's doing is leading Frank to a number of influential criminals ripe for the killing.

* An interesting example occurs within the film ''Film/JohnWick'': Iosef steals the [[CoolCar vintage Mustang]] of the titular character, and in doing so both beats the crap out of him and [[KickTheDog kills his dog]]. There is absolutely ''nobody'' in the New York criminal underworld ([[TooDumbToLive except Iosef and his friends, of course]]) that doesn't know [[RetiredBadass the kind of man]] [[OneManArmy that Wick used to be]], and his own father Viggo points out to Iosef [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge the kind of shitstorm that he brought down on himself (and everybody who gets in the way, including Viggo)]] in his decision to let pettiness and greed guide him.
* ''Film/TheWayOfTheGun''. Two villains kidnap the surrogate mother of a rich man who turns out to be a mob accountant. Even when warned that their victim has organised crime connections who will be unwilling to see their dirty money handed over to a couple of small time criminals, and they're offered a 'mere' million dollars to walk away clean, they turn down the offer in favor of the $15 million ransom they're demanding.

* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheKettyJay Retribution Falls]]'', Darian Frey raids the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Ace Of Skulls]], believing it to be a freighter transporting gemstones, but when it explodes after taking one shot and bodies fall out, it becomes clear that it was a liner. Darian Frey later learns that one the passengers was the son of a duke.

* In ''Literature/TrueTalents'', Trash wants to buy some art supplies, but is strapped for cash. While at the bank, he gives in to temptation and uses his telekinesis to steal a wad of bills from a trolley. After leaving, he looks through them and realizes that they're all hundred dollar bills -- meaning he just walked off with thousands of dollars. This gets him noticed [[TheyWouldCutYouUp by the wrong people]].

** When the Sons go to confront some neo-Nazis, they end up storming into a fundraising dinner for a right wing political party. They are recorded threatening dozens of women and children while holding highly illegal weapons. They were actually set up by the leader of the neo-Nazis, who likes to provoke his enemies into doing stupid crimes and then having them arrested for it.

* In season four of ''Series/TheWire'', a state's witness from a key case is murdered in an alley, right as long shot mayoral candidate Carcetti is making a big deal about the monumental crime levels of the city in general and the lack of protection for anyone [[TheMobBossIsScarier who actually dares to testify against the drug gangs]] in particular. The resulting scandal is so damaging to the current mayor, and the timing is so perfect (coming just before the election) that it actually helps Carcetti win the mayoral election. After the election, the case is still unsolved and Detective Greggs continues to investigate - and discovers that the death wasn't a murder meant to silence the witness, but a stray round from two drunken idiots shooting at bottles two blocks away.

* ''VideoGame/UtawarerumonoMaskOfDeception'': Nosuri "kidnaps" Anju in an attempt to help Anju invoke a RescueRomance with her bodyguard. She assumes that that is all there is to it, just helping a young girl find love. When it comes out that Anju is, in fact, the Imperial Princess, daughter of the Empire's GodEmperor, and the "bodyguard" is the head of the Imperial Guard... Nosuri freaks out and flees, since a threat to the Imperial Princess carries an automatic sentence of death. Afterward, Anju is distressed to find that, while Oshtor and the others involved know that the "kidnapping" was fake, the Courts will still declare Anju's kidnappers guilty of treason and execute them, because a crime against the Princess is far too severe to ever ignore.

* Similarly, committing a crime with federal jurisdiction is always worse than the same crime at a municipal/local level. The feds have much more in the way of resources than a single police department could ever bring to bear, and federal crimes carry stiffer penalties. A person who commits a petty theft, and then takes it across a state border, can accidentally ramp up to a federal crime, or making the unwise choice to vandalize/steal from mailboxes, forgetting that the postal service is a government branch.

* There's an unconfirmed story: thieves stole [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mr. Rogers']] car from in front of his house, then looked at the papers and props, and returned it. In some versions of the tale, they actually included a written apology.

* The "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" was initially both inverted and played straight, in that Jeanne de la Motte knew full well [[UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette just whom]] she'd hired a prostitute to impersonate for a late-night encounter, as part of her plan to work her way into the high society of 18th-century France—except Cardinal de Rohan, with whom the encounter had been arranged, believed he was meeting the ''real'' Antoinette. For this reason, the cardinal was probably the only person who got off easy in the ''enormous'' scandal that followed; he at least had the luxury of being exiled to his own property. No one else escaped unblemished, however; not de la Motte, who was branded as a thief, imprisoned, and eventually died in 1791 after a fall while on the run from debt collectors—and certainly not Antoinette herself, who while relatively uninvolved in the entire mess, had garnered a lousy enough reputation with the public that no one would have been shocked if she had. Then things ''[[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution really]]'' went south.

* ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'': In the Crewy Lou storyline, Crewy steals Tess Tracy's car in order to make a getaway. However, she fails to notice Bonny Ann Braids napping in the backseat, turning it not merely into an unintentional kidnapping, but making it ItsPersonal for Tracy.

* The plot of the [[{{Series/Firefly}} Serenity: Better Days]] miniseries involves the crew raiding a buried money cache that turns out to be several thousand times more valuable than they thought.
* ComicBook/{{Batman}}: DependingOnTheWriter, what was either a desperate mugging or a hit on a potential mob witness turns into [[SuperHeroOrigin something much bigger.]] And then there was the robbery of a chemical plant's payroll department by a [[ComicBook/TheJoker small-timer in a hood.]]

* ''ComicBook/DickTracy'': In the Crewy Lou storyline, Crewy steals Tess Tracy's car in order to make a getaway. However, she fails to notice Bonny Ann Braids napping in the backseat, turning it not merely into an unintentional kidnapping, but making it ItsPersonal for Tracy.

* ''[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Worm]]'' has an interesting case. When the Undersiders attempt to rob a bank, the young super-villains take great care to plan it for when most of the heroes will be busy at a function across the city, and the teenage superhero team the Wards will be stuck in school, risking how many can be pulled out of class without raising suspicions on their secret identities. It's a good plan, unfortunately, one of their hostages happens to be Amy Dallon, the most powerful healer in the world, and someone the hero-community definitely wants to see safe. Almost all of the Wards show up immediately, including Amy's very annoyed older sister [[FlyingBrick Victoria Dallon]].

* On Valentine's Day 1980, 5-year old Timothy White was abducted while walking home from school. 2 weeks later, he walked into a police station, accompanied by 14-year old Steven Stayner, who had disappeared '''''7''''' years earlier. At the time, a missing child resurfacing after such a long time and in reasonably good health was unheard of. To this day, despite a handful of similar stories, Stayner's case is arguably the most infamous. [[note]] White had been abducted by Stayner's captor because Steven was getting too old to be sexually attractive to him. Stayner returned White because he didn't want him to suffer the way he had. [[/note]]

* [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1173697/Burglars-tie-woman--flee-house-realise-shes-married-action-hero-actor-Dolph-Lundgren.html Some robbers]] in Marbella, Spain cut a robbery short when they realized they were ''this'' close to pulling this trope. They tied up the lady of a house and threatened her with knives, but fled in terror when they realized she was the wife of ''Creator/DolphLundgren''. Yes, [[GeniusBruiser *that* Dolph Lundgren]].