History Main / TrickedIntoSigning

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', this was how Pelleas was tricked into signing a Blood Pact that turned him into the Bern senate's puppet. He had trusted a friend of his when the man said it was a harmless document, but his friend was TheMole.

* The ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "The Pinky Protocol" has Brain's TakeOverTheWorld plan hinging on a former president (UsefulNotes/GeraldFord in this case) believing he was signing an autograph when it was actually a document connected to a conspiracy theory that Brain made up.

Compare ReadTheFinePrint, where the person knows they are signing a contract, but does not or cannot read all of the clauses.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' episode "[[Recap/LeverageS01E09TheSnowJob The Snow Job]]" has the heroes trick the mark into signing controlling interest of their family business by claiming it's a contract for a business deal.

Compare ReadTheFinePrint, where the person knows they are signing a contract, but do not or cannot read all of the clauses.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Subverted in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E11LittleDipper Little Dipper]]"; Lil' Gideon tries to trick Stan into signing away the deed to the Mystery Shack by hiding it in [[GiantNoveltyCheck a giant novelty sweepstakes check]]. Stan was onto him and signed it "Suck a lemon, little man!"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' have an episode where the Warners are taking the place of Plotz's sick secretary. Yakko gives Plotz a few documents to sign, hiding among them a check for $80 billion. He then shouts to his brother and sister, "We're rich!" Plotz takes the check away, to which Yakko merely says, "We're poor!"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' have an episode where the Warners are taking the place of Plotz's sick secretary. Yakko gives Plotz a few documents to sign, hiding among them a check for $80 billion. He then shouts to his brother and sister, "We're rich!" Plotz takes the check away, to which the brother merely says, "We're poor!"

** In the episode "Bart Mangled Banner," after Bart goes deaf after having a reaction to a vaccine that Dr. Hibbert applied. After explaining what happened Hibbert gives Homer a free a pen and provides a piece of paper for him to try it out, and right after Homer signs his name on it, Hibbert unfolds the paper, revealing it to be a malpractice waiver.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Attempted in the Literature/LordPeterWimsey novel ''Unnatural Death''. Mary Whittaker tries to trick her great-aunt Agatha Dawson into signing a will by burying it in a bunch of other papers than need a signature - and by having two of the housemaids ready to witness the signing of the will without Agatha realizing it. However, Agatha notices the will and refuses to sign.

* In the ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' episode "Mad Gray Dawn", Eddie Nygma asks a policeman to sign a routine form at the scene of a bombing. He's actually signed [[spoiler: a statement that he saw Jim kill Galavan, which Eddie later uses to frame Jim for the policeman's murder]].

* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': In the "Vested Interest" episode, Neal needs to fool Peter into signing a form authorising FBI surveillance but Peter carefully reads anything before he signs it and counts the forms he has signed to check that one hasn't been slipped in. [[spoiler: Neal secretly releases Mozzie's pet rat into the office so that everyone is distracted with the rat, Neal can swap out one of the forms Diana gave Peter for his.]]

'''Chelshia:''' Delivery. Uh... Magic... [pause] Fairy... [pause] Dust... Delivery.\\

* At the very beginning of ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Mystery Case Files: Black Crown]]'', the Master Detective is asked by a doctor to sign some administrative papers to allow her seeing one of his patients, which she does. [[spoiler: She should have read it, as the doctor was in cahoots with the BigBad, the ghostly pirate Phineas Crown, and the paper was in fact a contract binding her to join the latter's crew.]]

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' has this happen to Trucy in the 2nd case. A TV producer asks Trucy to sign a contract for her magic show to be televised on his network and she does so. Later on, the same producer starts demanding several million dollars in compensation because Trucy's show ended in disaster due to her being accused of murdering someone on stage and that she's responsible for it due to her signing the contract with those clauses. Apollo doesn't buy it because he knows Trucy would never sign such a contract. [[spoiler: And he is right. The contract Trucy signed was on carbon paper, which copied her signature on a different contract behind it and she had no knowledge of it. She also didn't kill the victim. It was all done by the producer to get Trucy's life ruined due to what her grandfather did to him in the past.]]

* An early plot of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' hinges on UsefulNotes/BillClinton believing he was signing an autograph, not signing over American land.

* In one episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve'', Reed and Malloy answer a call about a business dispute that's disturbing the peace, and arrive at HonestJohnsDealership, where a car dealer has tricked a customer who speaks very little English into signing a contract purchasing the car by passing it off as a waiver in case of accident during the test drive. The dealer's secretary had placed the call, and after Reed and Malloy persuade the dealer to release Mr. Diaz from the contract SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs; they give the secretary a calling card for the detective bureau.

* Attempted by Pennington, an AmoralAttorney who was misappropriating client funds, in ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile''. Fortunately for the target, Linnet Ridgeway Doyle, she flatly refuses to sign anything she hasn't read and understood.

* ''Film/BlackRain'': When the American cop Nick lands in Japan to hand the wanted man Sato over to the authorities, detectives come on the plane to take custody of Sato and present Nick a Japanese form to sign, which he signs unwittingly. Moments later the real detectives arrive. The first guys were Sato's men.

* Stacey Abrams's [[political thriller]] ''While Justice Sleeps'' is about a woman tricked into signing power of attorney naming herself to represent the Supreme Court justice she clerks for, shortly before he enters a coma. He told her it was a routine personnel document, knowing she wouldn't read it before signing it.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Inverted in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E11LittleDipper Little Dipper]]", Lil' Gideon tries to trick Stan into signing away the deed to the Mystery Shack by hiding it in [[GiantNoveltyCheck a giant novelty sweepstakes check]]. Stan was onto him and signed it "Suck a lemon, little man!"

* An episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has the heroes trick the mark into signing controlling interest of their family business by claiming it's a contract for a business deal.