History Main / MistakenForSpies

* In ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'' #3, Indy is arrested and imprisoned in an army camp after being mistaken for a saboteur by the [[ColonelKilgore the paranoid Colonel Bulldog Hannigan]].

* ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': This happens to Mariah when she is accidentally stranded back in the USSR after spending years in the LostWorld of Skartaris.

* In the ''Series/{{NewsRadio}}'' episode "The Trainer", the WNYX staff members discover that Dave Nelson was actually [[CanadaEh a Canadian-born citizen]] who moved to America when he was five. When Jimmy James asks him about this, Dave admits that when he moved, he was worried about being mistaken by the other kids in school for a canadian spy.

* Due to the actions of the CIA, polio workers are normally accused of being spies in the Middle East (using fake vaccinations to get DNA to track wanted terrorists), leading them to be targeted by militants who accuse them of either spying for America or [[InsaneTrollLogic trying to sterilize Muslim children.]]

* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'': Because the group has 21[-[[superscript:st]]-] technology such as [=iPods=] and cell phones that Blaine and his gang confuse with [[ShoePhone spy equipment]] and the fact that Lou was carrying Chernobly, Blaine assumes that all of them are Soviet spies.

* Subverted in ''Film/NavySEALs''. On a rescue mission, two [=SEALs=] bust open a locked door to find a bleeding bearded bare chested man, lying on the floor. He screams that he is “an Egyptian sailor”, causing one of the [=SEALs=] to surmise, “Bad guys thought he was a spy and beat the shit outta him!” He was actually a major terrorist leader, who [[WoundedGazelleGambit cut his own face to avoid suspicion]].

* ''Manga/InThisCornerOfTheWorld'', which takes place during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, has a scene where main character Suzu takes a break from housework to sketch the battleships in the harbor, only for a military officer to spot her and mistake her drawing the battleships as espionage. The officer drags her back to the Houjou house and lectures the whole family, with everyone having tense and nervous faces the whole time. When the officer leaves, so does the tension...because everyone but Suzu was just barely holding in their laughter over the very idea of someone mistaking [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Suzu]], of all people, for a spy.

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': There is a RunningGag about enemies thinking this as part of a WhatTheHellAreYou reaction to Akira's apparent skill (when it's usually more his VirtualSidekick Alpha moving his PoweredArmor like PeoplePuppets). At one point, an enemy Akira meets, Erde, takes this even further by pitying him for being a TykeBomb. He's not. Akira just gave him SilentTreatment instead of correcting.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'' with some rather justified suspicion being thrown at Sara after her identity is revealed. The big bad is her brother, after all.
* The 90s anime version of ''Manga/SailorMoon'' has Ami Mizuno first being mistaken as an agent of Queen Beryl's before she is revealed to be Sailor Mercury.
* Happened to Tsukune in ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'' when the school thinks he is a spy for humans attempting to destroy the Monster World.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': When the main characters arrive in the town of Spirit, they are accused of being behind the disappearances of various local children.
* Sorta happens to Yukiko in ''Manga/TheRowsOfCherryTrees'', as she's mistaken for the typical "scoop kid" associated to gangs of thieves [[spoiler: when she tries to take a closer look to her old home, which her family had to sell due to her father's illness and the associated hospital bills.]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Ed and Al spend a decent amount of their time at Briggs Mountain getting accused of being Drachma spies by Captain Buccaneer, culminating in them being handcuffed and thrown in a cell while they're sleeping. The fact that they can't really explain the real reasons why they're there (investigating an AncientConspiracy) doesn't help.
* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': There is a RunningGag about enemies thinking this as part of a WhatTheHellAreYou reaction to Akira's apparent skill (when it's usually more his VirtualSidekick Alpha moving his PoweredArmor like PeoplePuppets). At one point, an enemy Akira meets, Erde, takes this even further by pitying him for being a TykeBomb. He's not. Akira just gave him SilentTreatment instead of correcting.

* The ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fan-short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaLdfMbV_LU Mann Swap]]'' features RED Scout and RED Heavy in a FreakyFridayFlip, which causes their teammates to mistake the pair for spies, as is only natural for the setting. It takes [[OnlySaneMan Engineer]] to discern that they're just a pair of squabbling idiots in the wrong bodies attempting to hide their mistake.
* ''Fanfic/AVeryKaraChristmas'': In this story set in 1959, [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Linda Lee]]'s odd accent -which she lost after a couple of weeks-, strange habits and unexplained absences make her roommate Jennifer think Linda may be a Communist plant.
* ''Fanfic/FearTheSuperhero'': When Shirou is caught trying to smuggle guns into Japan, [[{{MegaCorp}} MBI]] assumes that Shirou is a spy for someone trying to learn about the Sekirei Plan. Not without reason, there were two others that very week, who were trying to do the same thing.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

%%* Played straight in another JamesGarner film ''A Man Could Get Killed''.

* CreatorIsaacAsimov's ''Literature/PebbleInTheSky'': In chapter 10, "Interpretation Of Events", Secretary Balkis is explaining to the High Minister of the [[TheTheocracy Society of Ancients]] why Schwartz and Dr. Bel Arvardan must be spies from the [[GalacticSuperpower Galactic Empire]]. Overlaps with TimeTravelersAreSpies in Schwartz's case.

%%[[folder:Theatre]]

%%* Also the entire plot of Woody Allen's play ''Don't Drink The Water''.
%%[[/folder]]

* Done to Tear and Luke in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', after a hyperresonence mishap teleports them both deep into a hostile country.
* This happens to your party in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' in Karnak. When you visit any of the shops, you find the prices for the equipment are unusually low. However, as soon as you try to purchase anything, your entire party is taken and thrown in jail in a cell next to one containing Cid, the inventor of the crystal amplifier. It turns out that one of the guards saw your party emerge from the meteor and thought them to be in league with the monsters.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'': Happens to Hugh, Drew and Taz in "Yet Another Road to Taz-Mania".

The characters arrive in the [[AdventureTowns Adventure Town]], just as soon as something nasty happens.

Odds are, they will end up getting accused of doing it and/or being enemy agents and temporarily incarcerated for it. Happens often to [[TimeTravellersAreSpies time travellers]].

* ''Film/{{Ghosted}}'': Cole Turner travels to London hoping to track down Sadie Rhodes, a woman he just had an all-night date with. Trying to locate her through a tracker on his inhaler that he accidentally left in her bag during the date, he tracks it to a remote underpass, where he's promptly ambushed and abducted by arms traffickers who think he's a legendary CIA operative known only as "the Taxman". It turns out that ''Sadie'' is the Taxman, a fact Cole finds out when she barges in to kill his captors as they're about to use insects to torture him for information.
* The Italian comedy movie ''Film/GoForIt'' with Creator/BudSpencer and Creator/TerenceHill. The two main characters, in early part of the movie, to get free tickets at airport pose as Steinberg and Mason who had just been called for on the speaker. They get their tickets, not knowing their original purchasers are two CIA top agents (killed from the villains). So, after they meet the CIA boss, they are forced to track down a mysterious secret organization hiding in Miami Beach.

* In the Mexican movie ''Ni de aquí, ni de allá'' (Neither from Here, nor There) starring la India Mariá, Maria is brought from her rural Mexican village to Los Angels to work as a live in maid for some millionaires, she gets separated from them at [=LAX=], and due to the LanguageBarrier, accidentally wanders into a men's room, where she witneses a [[DirtyCommunist KGB agent]] assassinate a defector, and through series of missunderstandings the [=FBI=] comes to believe that she and the agent are in cahoots. HilarityEnsues.

** One episode set in Washington, DC had the local detective convinced that Jessica was one of these, taking everything she said as some kind of secret code. Her repeated denials only served to convince him that he was right.
--->'''Ames''': Mrs. Fletcher, just between the two of us, which one are you with?
--->'''Jessica''': I beg your pardon?
--->'''Ames''': Well, I first suspected after our talk in the garage, but that bit about Muslims and Hindus? Dead giveaway. So which is it? FBI, CIA, NSC?
--->'''Jessica''': Lieutenant Ames, I don't know who or what you think I am, but I assure you, I'm simply a mystery writer from Cabot Cove, Maine.
--->'''Ames''': Cabot Cove. Nice touch. Sounds almost real.
--->'''Jessica''': That's because it is real. Now, see here, Lieutenant. For the last time, I am not some sort of secret government agent. I'm simply Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine. Look. Here is my, my Social Security card, my library card, my voter's registration card. Now, do you believe me?
--->'''Jessica's Friend''': Hey, Jess. You'd better hurry if you want to meet with that agent before he goes to Moscow.[[note]]Seth means a real estate agent from Moscow, Idaho.[[/note]]
--->'''Ames''': Mos... Best phony I.D. I've ever seen.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': Happens to Phoebus and Quasimodo when they try to sneak into the Court of Miracles to warn the Parisian Gypsy community of Frollo's imminent attack. Considering that both men were ''very'' heavily associated with Frollo, it's no wonder they were accused of espionage. [[BreathlessNonSequitur Oh, and the entire accusation is a musical number.]]

* The Italian comedy movie ''Film/GoForIt'' with Creator/BudSpencer and Creator/TerenceHill. The two main characters, in early part of the movie, to get free ticktes at airport pose as Steinberg and Mason who had just been called for on the speaker. They get their tickets, not knowing their original purchasers are two CIA top agents (killed from the villains). So, after meet the CIA boss, they are forced to track down a mysterious secret organization hiding in Miami Beach.

* Minor variant in ''Film/MoscowOnTheHudson''. Robin Williams' character, a Soviet defector, is being followed by a man in an overcoat down a street. Robin Williams confronts him and demands to know why he's being followed and if he's from the FBI, CIA, or KGB. The man calmly replies he's G-A-Y to which Williams' realizes what he means and laughs.

* ''Film/NorthByNorthwest'' kicks off when a businessman from New York City is mistaken by the villains for a spy. That the man he's been mistaken for [[spoiler:doesn't actually exist]] and the fact that the villains adamantly refuse to believe his denials, don't help matters, leading to him being dragged into a massive espionage plot.

* In one of the time-travelling strips from ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'', Jughead ended up in the middle of the Civil War and was immediately accused of being a spy for the South until Lincoln himself pardoned him.
* In ''ComicBook/TheWarlord'', this happens to Mariah when she is accidentally stranded back in the USSR after spending years in the LostWorld of Skartaris.

* Subverted in the ''ComicStrip/DanDare'' story ''Operation Saturn''. The Saturnian rebel leader Tharl accuses Dan and Digby of being spies of the ruling High Lords. It turns out, though, that Tharl never actually believed this and it was just a ruse to make sure he could trust them.

-> ''"Pfah! Frazie... sounds like a spy's codename."''

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Ed and Al spend a decent amount of their time at Briggs Mountain getting accused of being Drachma spies by Captain Buccaneer, culminating in them being handcuffed and thrown in a cell while they’re sleeping. The fact that can’t really explain the real reasons they’re there (investigating an AncientConspiracy) doesn’t help.
* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': There is a RunningGag about enemies thinking this as part of a WhatTheHellAreYou reaction to Akira’s apparent skill (when it’s usually more his VirtualSidekick Alpha moving his PoweredArmor like PeoplePuppets). At one point, an enemy Akira meets, Erde, takes this even further by pitying him for being a TykeBomb. He’s not. Akira just gave him SilentTreatment instead of correcting.

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Myne, who is in a ReincarnateInAnotherWorld situation, eventually gains an acquaintance who figures out that her behavior lines up more with an educated person enduring a CultureClash than that of a ChildProdigy. Since the scope of that person's mind in limited to their own world, the first thing that comes to their mind is that Myne may be some sort of spy from another location.

* ''Film/WarGames'': David Lightman is a teenaged hacker trying to get into the computer systems of a video game company. However, he unknowingly gets into the NORAD MasterComputer, WOPR, and thinks the "Global Thermonuclear War" program is a game instead of a tactical simulation, causing a scare of a potential nuclear attack. After the situation is (initially) defused, the FBI tracks him down and takes him in for interrogation, thinking he's working with the Soviets since he fits their profile of a collaborator. [[NotWhatItLooksLike It didn't help that, prior to hacking into WOPR, he'd hacked into Pan-Am's systems and seemingly purchased two tickets to Paris]].

** A downplayed example was a regular element of episodes featuring MI5 agent Michael Haggerty, who frequently used Jessica as cover, and whose enemies would inevitably assume that she was more involved than she was.

-->'''Ames''': Mos... Best phony I.D. I've ever seen.

-->'''Ames''': Mrs. Fletcher, just between the two of us, which one are you with?
-->'''Jessica''': I beg your pardon?
-->'''Ames''': Well, I first suspected after our talk in the garage, but that bit about Muslims and Hindus? Dead giveaway. So which is it? FBI, CIA, NSC?
-->'''Jessica''': Lieutenant Ames, I don't know who or what you think I am, but I assure you, I'm simply a mystery writer from Cabot Cove, Maine.
-->'''Ames''': Cabot Cove. Nice touch. Sounds almost real.
-->'''Jessica''': That's because it is real. Now, see here, Lieutenant. For the last time, I am not some sort of secret government agent. I'm simply Jessica Fletcher from Cabot Cove, Maine. Look. Here is my, my Social Security card, my library card, my voter's registration card. Now, do you believe me?
-->'''Jessica's Friend''': Hey, Jess. You'd better hurry if you want to meet with that agent before he goes to Moscow.[[note]]Seth means a real estate agent from Moscow, Idaho.[[/note]]

* An episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' set in Washington, DC had the local detective convinced that Jessica was one of these, taking everything she said as some kind of secret code. Her repeated denials only served to convince him that he was right.