Unknowingly Possessing Stolen Goods

We all want certain things in life. Things that are unobtainable through normal means, mainly because it is too expensive or only sold exclusively to certain people. Or perhaps we could just require something simple that we need. And just when you think you won't be able to get what you need, somebody comes along and is willing to sell you the things you want, all for a "reasonable" price of course, or it could simply be free as a gift. Where did it come from though? Maybe they got it after it Fell Off the Back of a Truck, who knows? No matter the case, you buy it without questioning where it came from. And it is money well-spent as it greatly satisfies your wants or needs. You feel like it's changed your life for the better. Nothing could possibly go wrong now. But as the saying goes "If it's too good to be true, it probably is". As you enjoy your new goods, the police come by and arrest you. Asking what the charge is, they tell you "you're in possession of stolen property".

This is what happens when a character gets in possession of an item by a figure. The transaction may or may not happen on-screen. And after a while of enjoying their new items, it's quite common the police will arrest the character for having "stolen property". And at this point, it's where the character has to try and convince the police that they didn't know the items were stolen, more than often falling on deaf ears. They are indeed Mistaken for Thief, as Possession Presumes Guilt. And it's up to some of the other characters to help clear their good name. Which may result in the one who sold the character the stolen property being arrested, and seeing the character free.

Of course, it doesn't always end in arrest. Sometimes, the character might find something that gives away it's stolen, such as a serial number filed off, or some kind of symbol that indicates that it does belong to someone else. And characters will find a way to give it back to the person it got stolen from before they suspect something. Or in worse cases, the ones that got stolen from may even suspect the person who is giving back their things is a thief.

Compare Honest John's Dealership, where salespeople sell items to customers, often of a dubious quality, and may also very well be illegal, leading to this trope.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Discussed in The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: Seigi knows the ring he inherited from his grandmother is stolen, but Richard isn't aware of that when Seigi asks him to appraise it, and after discovering the theft himself, is unsure if Seigi is ignorant of the origins or trying to scam him.

Asian Animation

• Agent Ali: Ali receives the IRIS, a gadget that Dos stole from MATA, by accident because it was in the container he "buys" his breakfast in. The stall owner gives it for free under the belief that the boy is the operative he is meant to give the IRIS to because Dos says the password the operative would give is "tempoyak udang", which happens to be a breakfast item that Ali wants. Ali is later tracked by his uncle Bakar, who asks him if he mistakenly took anything that isn't his, and later finds Dos and Trez on his tail.

Film — Live-Action

• Blank Check: Preston gets a blank check from Quigley after accidentally ran over his bike. Preston uses the check to get a million dollars, unaware that the money was stolen by Quigley.
• In Hang 'Em High, Clint Eastwood's character, Jed Cooper, a retired lawman, is driving his herd of cattle across a stream when a posse of men surround Jed, demanding Jed show them the receipt for the cattle. It turns out that the man who sold Jed the cattle killed the original owner and stole them and sold them off to Jed. Jed tries to explain that he knew nothing about the murder, but they don't believe him and leave him hanging. Jed gets rescued and his innocence is proven. He becomes a deputy as he looks to bring the posse to justice.
• Implied in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It's fairly safe to assume the people buying the medallions from the pirates weren't aware they were actually stolen, cursed Aztec gold.
• Rock N Rolla: Towards the climax of the film, after having sex with Stella, One-Two the Scottish criminal leaves her a painting his friend Cookie gave him as a token of appreciation. Later on, Stella's boss Yuri the Russian gang leader visits her house to propose to her, as he has long wanted to do, only to find the painting in her flat, which she claims to have owned for years. Because the painting used to belong to Yuri (it's his "lucky painting", the theft of which kicked off the film's main plot), he does not find this funny, and orders Stella to be killed for supposedly stealing from him.

Literature

• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Mundungus Fletcher told Harry and some of the Weasley brothers how he once sold someone frogs that he stole from him beforehand.

Live-Action TV

• Drake & Josh: In "The Gary Grill", Drake and Josh get themselves a job working for two guys selling Gary Coleman Grills; grills that are also .mp3 players. They make themselves good money, but it ends when they get arrested by undercover cops. Megan helps clear their names by finding the two guys and meeting with them to "work for them". She wears a wire, which lets the authorities know the conversation, leading to the two being arrested and clearing Drake and Josh's names.
• Family Matters: In "Hot Stuff", Eddie buys a stereo system for his car from a guy Weasel knows. However, after Eddie informs Steve he only paid $400 for the system and Steve notices the serial numbers were filed off the equipment, they realize the system was stolen.
• Full House: In "Grand Gift Auto", Joey buys DJ a 1977 Pontiac Firebird for her 16th birthday. It bodes badly enough as it turns out to be broken, and Danny and Jesse have to fix it. But things get worse when a police officer comes by and says the car is stolen, and since Joey doesn't have the pink slip, the officer is convinced he stole the car and is about to arrest him. The family convinces the officer that Joey is not a criminal by showing her his cartoon memorabilia, proving to her that someone with a goofy childhood-like personality like Joey could not be a hardened criminal. The officer lets Joey go, but he nearly sets out to move because he thinks the family sees him as a joke. But the family convinces Joey to stay after they tell him how much they mean to him.
• Leverage: "The Boost Job" opens with a teacher being chased by cops because his car, which he thought he'd bought legally, was actually stolen. Hardison explains that their target, played by Bill Engvall, would steal cars in one state and sell them in another with falsified documents. The teacher had crossed state lines, back to the car's originating state, and learned of its stolen nature when a mechanic ran the VIN number. The team trap the villain by giving him a truckload of stolen cars...all from a local police charity event and all with Lo-Jack. The cops were very motivated to find the thief, which the Leverage team put on the crooked car dealer.
• Married... with Children: In "Have You Driven a Ford Lately", Al and Steve buy a junky car from Kelly's date, with the date being unaware that it's actually a 1966 Ford Mustang. Al and Steve work and repair it so they can restore it to its original glory. In the end, they lose the car because it turned out to be stolen and gets impounded, though Al and Steve don't suffer any legal ramifications. Although Al ends up getting hurt after he tried to pick a fight with the cop.
• On Pawn Stars, Rick explains this is why they are so careful about finding out if the person selling the item really owns it, and even then they've inadvertently purchased stolen items and had the police come by to confiscate them.
• The Sandman (2022): After accidentally summoning Dream in his attempt to capture Death, Roderick Burgess stripped Dream of his belongings, but was robbed by Ethel Cripps and the items were scattered. His sand eventually fell into the hands of Johanna Constantine and left with her girlfriend. When Dream approaches Johanna for it, she's incredulous and doesn't know who he is, let alone that the sand is his stolen property.
• Sanford and Son: A rash of burglaries strike the home of Fred Sanford, which compels him to obtain a replacement TV set. He buys one from a shady discount huckster and plunks it in the old set's place. When Fred's neighbor Grady comes for a visit, he sees the set that Fred has, and quickly identifies it as one that had been stolen from him. Fred, of course, is in denial, claiming Grady is crazy. Grady ultimately recovers his TV set, and Fred recovers his old set, which the thieves couldn't unload because it's so old.
• That '70s Show: In "Stolen Car", after Eric gets the car taken away by his father after finding a scratch, Eric and his friends are left car-less until Kelso's cousin lets Kelso drive his car and takes the guys around. They get arrested after learning the car is stolen. It's subverted when the police learn the truth: that the cousin borrowed it from his grandmother and she had forgotten about it and reported it stolen.
• Wishbone: In "One Thousand and One Tails," David accidentally hacks into an organized crime syndicate's chatroom and gets over a million dollars transferred into his father's account, somehow, leading to them getting a visit from the FBI.

Video Games

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: One Sidequest has you investigate an Imperial City shopkeeper with suspiciously cheap merchandise. When you find evidence that his mysterious supplier has been Robbing the Dead, he's horrified and helps you bring the thief to justice.
• No Umbrellas Allowed: Starting on Week 6, some customers try scamming you into buying stolen items by claiming that their owners died. Whether or you buy them, their owners will eventually show up a few days later to retrieve them, and they'll accuse you of Avarice Crimes bought their items but fail to return them.
• Untitled Goose Game: Inverted. The task "make someone buy their stuff back" involves stealing an object and putting it in the shopkeeper's store. When the victim attempts to take back their item, the shopkeeper will force them to pay for it.

Web Animation

• Strong Bad Email: In the email "Garage Sale", Strong Bad goes into detail about how he runs a garage sale, ending with the reveal that he has The Cheat ransack the houses of the people who come so that he can sell them back their stuff at an inflated price. Cut to a scene of Marzipan preparing to buy an answering machine from Strong Bad, unaware that it's hers until it plays her recording.
  Marzipan: Ooh, This is perfect! I've always wanted an answering machine.
  Answering Machine: It's a great day at Marzipan's! Please leave me a message!
  Marzipan gives a Death Glare as Strong Bad starts turning his head awkwardly
  Strong Bad: Uh, See? It is perfect. It already knows your name even.

Web Comics

• Housepets!: Itsuki starts to buy a muffler from "Four Finger Discount" Jack's yard sale but realizes mid-transaction that it was sawed off in the exact same places as the one his client lost.

Western Animation

• Doug: The plot of the episode "Doug's Hot Property" involves Doug purchasing a copy of Man-O-Steel Man #1 from a bunch of high schoolers. When he decides to show it off to Sully, who refused to sell his own copy of the same comic, he discovers the store is closed because his copy of Man-O-Steel Man #1 has been stolen, leading Doug to realize he bought a stolen comic book.
• In the Miraculous Ladybug special Miraculous World: Shanghai - The Legend of Lady Dragon, Marinette assumes this of a pawn shop owner who has come into possession of her stolen Miraculous and kidnapped Tiki. She does not realize that this man knowingly accepted the stolen goods from the thief.
• In the Disney short “Lucky Toupee” leprechauns steal people’s hair while they’re sleeping and use it to make toupees, which they then sell to their victims.

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