History Main / SuspiciousSpending

* In one of Max Allan Collins's early ''DickTracy'' strips (the final "Big Boy" continuity), someone points to one cop's extravagant lifestyle when they are looking for a mole inside the Organized Crime Unit. Tracy agrees that is suspicious, but far from conclusive.

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* In {{Literature/Twilight}}, the Cullens spent much more than they should have been able to on [[CoolCar cool cars]], designer clothes, etc. for Carlisle being a doctor and the only source of income. Bella wondered about this, before she knew about Alice being phychic and able to predict lottery results.

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* One of the missions for the Italian Mafia in ''GrandTheftAuto III'' is a slightly atypical example of this trope. A bartender working for a made man is suspected of leaking information to the Columbian Cartel, who have been showing a remarkable amount of foreknowledge of Mafia movements. The bartender is a suspect because he is spending more than the Mafia is paying him, and because he is not pimping women or selling drugs, which would account for the discrepancy.

* Brucie Kibbutz from GrandTheftAuto IV is stated, in his police record, to be spending money more freely than his declared taxable income should allow.
* A suspected corrupt police captain in TheElderScrolls IV: Oblivion, has items in his office that could not have been purchased merely on his own salary. The implication ([[spoiler:later proved to be true, if the player has him arrested rather than killed]]) is that he is imposing outrageous fines on the cityfolk in order to bankroll his spending, [[spoiler:including a large home for himself and his family for when he retires.]]

* In ''TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy is constantly showing up with stuff his fairy godparents got him through magic. His usual answer when asked how he got the stuff is, "From the Internet?". There's even an episode where he is suspected of shoplifting for this very reason. [[spoiler:He then manages to catch a real shoplifter using a camera he wished for, leading his parents to stop questioning his excuse, even if they don't seem to believe it.]]

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* Murtaugh is suspected of this in ''LethalWeapon 4''. Nice suits, nice house (constantly needing to be completely remodeled), new cars and boats, and more than enough money to go around. Riggs eventually gets around to grilling him about why this is so on a cop's salary. It turns out the money is coming mostly from Murtagh's wife, who is a very successful romance novelist. Murtagh wouldn't admit it because his friends would ''never'' let him live it down.

* Brass mentions on an episode of ''{{CSI}}'' that when he joined the Las Vegas Police Department, one officer had a really luxurious cabin where he threw parties and, in retrospect, Brass realized what that meant.
* In the first season of ''LawAndOrder'', when Cragen is suspected of being associated with a dirty cop, it's noticed he's getting a new swimming pool. Cragen later reveals that his wife (a flight attendant) is the one paying for it.

* On ''{{NCIS}}'', [=McGee=]'s coworkers are suspicious when he starts buying such extravagant things as a new phone, watch, clothes, car, etc. Turns out that they're right to be, because he has the money [[spoiler: as a result of his bestselling novel, which stars characters based on people he knows - based ''only'' on people he knows.]]

* In one episode of ''{{Unforgettable}}'', a murdered cop was suspected of being dirty because he was able to pay of his wife's extensive medical bills despite being seriously in debt. [[spoiler:He had gotten the money by selling his boat.]]

* MaxPayne's confrontation with B.B. in the first game is all over this trope.

* Pops up in the movie ''{{Clue}}''.

* Deliberately referenced in ''{{Goodfellas}}'': One gangster gets upset when his girlfriend buys a really expensive coat because of this trope - he's worried the police will be suspicious if she's seen with it.

* In one of the ''[[HeraldsOfValdemar Tarma and Kethry]]'' short stories, Tarma figures out who TheMole is by realizing that one of the guards is wearing jewelry he shouldn't be able to afford (Though this is considered to be grounds for suspicion, not proof in and of itself).

-->--'''''TheThreepennyOpera''''', "Mack the Knife"

* This happens near the end of the original ''PinkPanther'' movie when Clouseau is suspected of being the jewel thief. When questioned in this matter about how his wife (who is actually the thief) is able to afford such expensive clothing, on his police salary, Clouseau naïvely asserts that she's very frugal with the housekeeping budget.

* ''TheShield'' plays into this, Vic Mackey is the living embodiment of the idea.

* AlCapone's arrest has derived from this. While they couldn't prove that the millions of dollars he spent on entertainment alone every year was earned illegally, they could prove that he hadn't paid taxes on it.

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* ''TheWire'': When the Stevedore's Union donates enough money for a great big stained glass illuminated window for a church, a police major becomes suspicious and investigates the union for corruption, setting up the plot for the season. Actually, it was because Frank Sobotka (leader of the union) upstaged the police major's own donation and the major was abusing his power. He didn't know (and probably wouldn't have cared) that it was also an arguably good use of a lot of money - a senator the union needed to influence was in that church's congregation.

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* In one case, a man was arrested under suspicion of breaking into vending machines to steal the money they contained. It didn't help his case when he made bail using nothing but quarters.

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* ''TheWire'': When the Stevedore's Union donates enough money for a great big stained glass illuminated window for a church, a police major becomes suspicious and investigates the union for corruption, setting up the plot for the season. Actually, it was because they upstaged his donation and he was abusing his power. He didn't know it was also an arguably good use of a lot of money - a senator the union needed to influence was in that church's congregation.
** In the same season, Nick Sobotka warns his cousin against this after the two of them steal a container of digital cameras from the docks. Ziggy ignores him.

* In ''Film/{{Superman}} III'', after Gus's "shave and collect fractional pennies" scam is discovered, CorruptCorporateExecutive Ross Webster doesn't think there's any way of catching the perpetrator unless he does something really stupid. Immediately, Gus shows up in a fancy sports car far above what he could afford on his salary.

* In ''TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy is constantly showing up with stuff his fairy godparents got him through magic. His usual answer when asked how he got the stuff is, "From the Internet?". There's even an episode where he is suspected of shoplifting for this very reason.

* One of the missions for the Italian Mafia in ''GrandTheftAuto III'' is a slightly atypical example of this trope. A bartender working for a made man is suspected of leaking information to the Columbian Cartel, who have been showing a remarkable amount of foreknowledge of Mafia movements. The bartender is a suspect because he is spending more than he's earning, and because he is not pimping women or selling drugs, which would account for the discrepancy.

* One of the missions for the Italian Mafia in ''GrandTheftAuto III'' has you tailing someone who is suspected of leaking information to the Columbian Cartel, and the person giving the mission has this as his reason for suspecting the guy you have to tail.