History Main / FellOffTheBackOfATruck

what Wiki/TheOtherWiki calls [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_of_stolen_goods possession of stolen goods]] (or equivalent in your country, such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handling_stolen_goods handling stolen goods]] in England, Wales and Northern Ireland), while the seller is known as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal) fence]].

Standard method of explaining the [[HowDidYouGetIt acquisition of illegitimate goods]], usually by HonestJohn or [[TheMafia Major Opportunity Businesses]]. Used so much in RealLife and fiction alike that it has become completely synonymous with "I acquired it illegitimately." If you really intend to lie about something's origin, then you'll have to come up with another excuse. (That is, unless your friends or [[MafiaPrincess spouse]] are dumb enough to fall for it.) Legally, this principle is part of just about every stolen property statute around the world; the law invariably assumes that something being sold or given in a suspicious manner would make any reasonable person assume that the items were stolen or otherwise acquired illegitimately, and anyone who willingly purchases items that a layperson would have good reason to believe were stolen can and will be faced with criminal charges.

-->-- ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', "The Long Legs of the Law"

* Occurs a lot in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', usually as part of whatever ZanyScheme Del-Boy's cooked up to make a bit of money this week.

* In ''Series/DadsArmy'' anything that Walker supplies. Although he rightly points out: "These things don't just fall off the back of a truck of their own accord, they've got to be pushed" when defending that his job is indeed difficult.

* The ''VideoGame/MechCommander 2'' manual (which is referred to in-universe as a "Tactical Data Display") was obtained by Sgt. Cash from his usual suppliers. Lt. Diaz tells you to say it "fell off the back of an armored personnel carrier" if anyone asks.

* Taken UpToEleven on ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', in which a truck carrying everything the boys might possibly have a use for just happens to ''back itself through their front windows'', then be abandoned to their care by its driver. It's implied Mike had actually arranged for this to happen, making it this trope.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'' has a literal example when Makoto is trying to get rid of a stolen bike he unknowingly bought, but [[ClingyMacGuffin he can't seem to lose it]]. He takes it to a junkyard, and it gets loaded into a dump truck, only to fall out of the back of the truck as it passes him on the street.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the DLC ''Operation: Anchorage'' includes this trope when successfully talking your way into a gauss rifle. The armorer actually says "if anyone asks, it fell off a truck."

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''VideoGame/TheNamelessMod'': Winquman, the [=PDX=] quartermaster, is told by his supplier that the PHAT Rifle he got fell off the back of a truck. The World Corp storyline reveals it DID come off the back of a truck -- it was stolen from it.

* [[HonestJohn Arona Daal]] from ''VideoGame/{{Startopia}}'' uses this line when selling you medical supplies in the second mission, claiming "it fell off the back of a [hospital] trolley."
* The ''VideoGame/MechCommander 2'' manual (which is referred to in-universe as a "Tactical Data Display") was obtained by Sgt. Cash from his usual suppliers. Lt. Diaz tells you to say it "fell off the back of an armored personnel carrier" if anyone asks.
* This also appears at least once in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' games, where a supply of ordinarily legal equipment can be bought for a suspiciously lower price than normal. The equipment is heavily implied to have been acquired by illicit means, while the seller in turn claims it fell out of a DropShip. This is a particularly poor excuse since Dropships are hermetically sealed against space before takeoff and during transit. Well, they're sealed unless they're attacked by Aerospace Fighters that shoot holes in them. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes when it happens, things might fall out of the Dropship and land on something soft enough that they're still in a remarkably usable condition...

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' one Ethreal smuggler will sometimes try to sell passing players an item that he says fell off the back of a pack mule.
** The Grimestreet Smuggler card in ''VideoGame/{{Hearthstone}}'''s line when summoned is "What? They fell off a truck."
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the DLC ''Operation: Anchorage'' includes this trope when successfully talking your way into a gauss rifle. The armorer actually says "if anyone asks, it fell off a truck."

* ''VideoGame/ClockworkEmpires'' has some ''enterprising'' colonists offering you "perfectly legal" goods from time to time. Of course, there's always some pesky jobsworth watching your hands, so accepting those goods has some consequences.

* [[FriendInTheBlackMarket Darvo]] from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' in one of the Darvo Deals videos (supplemental videos about InGame Discounts) claim that his merchandise "fell off the back of a [[MegaCorp Corpus]] shuttle." [[SubvertedTrope He wasn't lying.]] or to be more precise, [[DoubleSubverted "The entire back of the shuttle fell off after it took a direct hit from a Fomorian class ship."]] DownplayedTrope, as he merely was RobbingTheDead.
* ''VideoGame/LoveOfMagic'': Referenced; "Fell off the Back of a Lorry" is the name of the achievement for selling gems back to the quartermaster.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' provides a literal example in the episode "The Shippening", where Sarah acquires a magic notebook that falls out of a van as it speeds past her house during a police chase. When Gumball and Darwin confront her about the notebook later, she tells them it fell off the back of a truck word for word, then clarifies she [[NotHyperbole doesn't mean it as a euphemism]].

* An Australian television add for a chain store used an actual notorious criminal of the era. After promoting the store's cheap "off the back of a truck prices" with a wink and "you know what I mean", he'd clean out the till and run off at the sound of a police siren.

* ''Series/{{Motive}}'': In "The Score", the VictimOfTheWeek steals a truck fill of stolen merchandise from a underworld middleman. Trying to on sell the stolen goods, his contact asks where the merchandise came from. The victim replies with a knowing "It fell off the back off a truck".

* During their stint on WCW, the bad boy tag team [[Wrestling/{{TPE}} the Public Enemy]] would show up in WCW merchandise promos by saying, "You won't believe what fell off the truck this week!"

* This also appears at least once in the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' games, where a supply of ordinarily legal eqipment can be bought for a suspiciously lower price than normal. The equipment is heavily implied to have been acquired by illicit means, while the seller in turn claims it fell out of a DropShip. This is a particularly poor excuse since Dropships are hermetically sealed against space before takeoff and during transit. Well, they're sealed unless they're attacked by Aerospace Fighters that shoot holes in them. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes when it happens, things might fall out of the Dropship and land on something soft enough that they're still in a remarkably usable condition...

* [[FriendInTheBlackMarket Darvo]] from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' in one of the Darvo Deals video (supplemental videos about InGame Discounts) claim that his merchandise "fell off the back of a [[MegaCorp Corpus]] shuttle." [[SubvertedTrope He wasn't lying.]] or to be more precise, [[DoubleSubverted "The entire back of the shuttle fell off after it took a direct hit from a Fomorian class ship."]] DownplayedTrope, as he merely was RobbingTheDead.

* The Robots in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' do this in order to prevent food wastage by letting Sam steal food that they would otherwise be [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03097.htm required to throw out]]. Then, since he isn't available to steal from them everyday, they ask him to [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3100/fc03099.htm train a robot]] to steal the excess produce from them.

* ''Website/OverheardInNewYork'', [[http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/023706.html here]], with a dash of literal mindedness.

* In a ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether''-episode, a "crashed meat zeppelin" is the explaination for where Spanky [[spoiler:and later Clara]] get meat [[spoiler: which is actually the meat of Clara's animal friends]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': Timmy cannot tell anyone about Cosmo and Wanda, but he gets all this great stuff from them. So when people (like his parents or friends) ask him where he got XYZ, he responds, "[[WildCardExcuse Uh...Internet?]]" This is usually sufficient (only because Timmy's parents and friends are rather dim-witted). Except at one point, when his father asks: "And where did you get the internet?" Later, trying to restore his parents' faith on him, Timmy hooks himself up to a lie detector to prove he didn't steal the stuff he got from "Internet". It backfired when Timmy's Dad asked where Timmy got the lie detector.

* A literal example is implied in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', when the kids are all gaping at the Eds' newest scam, a prize grabber machine, and wondering where it came from (unaware as of yet that it was the Eds' creation).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' provides a literal example in the episode "The Shippening", where Sarah acquires a magic notebook which falls out of a van as it speeds past her house during a police chase. When Gumball and Darwin confront her about the notebook later, she tells them it fell of the back off a truck word for word, then clarifies she [[NotHyperbole doesn't mean it as a euphemism]].

* Pops up a few times in ''Series/LawAndOrder''.

* Likewise ''Series/{{Minder}}'', with or without the connivance of [[ConMan Arthur Daly]].

* In a ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether''-episode, a "crashed meat zeppelin" is the explaination for where Spanky [[spoiler:and later Clara]] get meat [[spoiler: which is actually the meat Clara's animal friends]].

* In ''Series/{{Becker}}'', Linda states that her boyfriend (who throughout the series has been stated to do illegal things) found a big bag of money after it fell off the back of a truck. Linda, not believing him, leaves convinced he stole it. It later turns out it did fall out of an armored truck, and after returning it he got a thanks from the city.

* From one of the Darvo Deals from ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': "''I found this great merchandise after it fell off the back of a Corpus shuttle. Actually, to be more precise, the entire back of the shuttle fell off after it took a direct hit from a Formorian. So, not such a lucky day for those guys, heh. But good for you right?!''". Considering the Corpus and Grineer are actually pulling guns on each other more often than they are pulling guns on the [[PlayerCharacter Tenno]], Darvo probably wasn't lying about the origins of the goods.

* In ''Series/{{Becker}}'', Linda states that her boyfriend (who throughout the series has been stated to do illegal things) found a big bag of money after it fell off the back of a truck. Linda, not believing him, leaves him believe he stole it. It later turns out it did fall out of an armored truck, and after returning it got a thanks from the city.

what Wiki/TheOtherWiki calls [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_of_stolen_goods possession of stolen goods]] (or equivalent in your country, such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handling_stolen_goods handling stolen goods]] in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland), while the seller is known as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_(criminal) fence]].

-->'''Uncle Joe''': You'd be surprised how many things "fell off the back of a truck" 'round here. [''hands her paper and a pencil for her to make a list'']

* ''Film/{Steel}}'': When John Henry Irons tells his friend "Sparky" Sparx that they are going to fight crime, Sparky sarcastically points out that all of the resources they have on hand is what is inside of John Henry's uncle Joe's junkyard and that's it. Cue Uncle Joe rolling in, to Sparky's surprise, a ''military-grade supercomputer'' that someone stole and sold him for scrap money.

[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trucktrucktruck_3468.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:It fell off a truck-truck... [[SerialEscalation truck]].]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Reliable Matthew from ''VideoGame/ShadowrunHongKong'' is all but said outright to be fleecing stolen or outdated drones, and the PlayerCharacter is allowed to snark at him whether or not his 'great selection' fell off the back of a passing boat.