Editing Sting operation (section)

==Examples==
{{See|Operation Flagship}}
* Police in Columbus, Ohio, used a [[bait car]] outfitted with surveillance technology to catch three 15- and 17-year-old car thieves.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lagatta |first1=Eric |title=Police arrest three teenagers in 'bait car' sting near Ohio State campus |url=https://eu.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/12/07/columbus-police-arrest-3-teens-bait-car-sting-near-ohio-state/6411648001/ |access-date=18 February 2024 |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=7 December 2021}}</ref>
* In 2004, a joint operation between US, British and Australian police used fake websites - otherwise known as [[Honeypot (computing)|honeypots]] - to catch [[Security cracking|hackers]] and [[Pedophilia|pedophiles]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schrage |first1=Michael |date=26 January 2024 |title=We Can Trap More Crooks With a Net Full of Honey |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/01/11/we-can-trap-more-crooks-with-a-net-full-of-honey/915b8284-c4da-4dad-a32c-bb92167b5dad/ |access-date=17 February 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>
* Wearing luxury timepieces to catch a watch thief. In late 2022, the [[London Met Police]] twice had officers pose as potential victims by wearing high-quality watches such as [[Rolex]]. According to them, there was a reduction in watch robberies as a result of the operations.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hogg |first1=Ryan |title=Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he doesn’t wear a watch in London anymore amid Rolex mugging surge |url=https://fortune.com/europe/2024/08/13/british-billionaire-sir-jim-ratcliffe-says-he-doesnt-wear-a-watch-in-london-anymore-amid-rolex-mugging-surge/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=13 August 2024 |work=Fortune}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Jess & [[PA Media]] |title=Luxury watch thefts down after Met goes undercover |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-67996127 |access-date=17 January 2024 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
* A man was ordered released from prison by a US judge who criticized the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] for relying on an "unsavory" informant for a fake conspiracy to blow up a [[synagogue]] in [[New York City]] and shoot down planes belonging to the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]]. The defendants, according to prosecutors, spent months scouting out targets and securing what they believed to be explosives and missiles. They were arrested after allegedly planting fake bombs that had been packed with FBI-supplied inert explosives.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Newburgh Four: judge orders release of man convicted in US terror sting |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/20/newburgh-four-james-cromitie-ordered-released |access-date=17 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=20 January 2024}}</ref>
* Luring [[fugitives]] out of hiding by sending them mail telling them that they have won a vacation or sports tickets in a competition, which can be collected.<ref name="sting">{{cite news |title=From fake weddings to free flights, elaborate sting operations have ensnared suspects around the world |date=11 June 2021 |first=Antonia Noori|last=Farzan|authorlink=Antonia Noori Farzan |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/08/sting-operations/}}</ref> In a 1985 sting known as [[Operation Flagship]], US Marshals arrested over 100 fugitives by posing as a television company inviting them to the [[Washington Convention Center]] to claim free tickets for a [[Washington Redskins]] match.<ref name="sting" /> Another established a fictitious airline offering free tickets, arresting those who came to the fake check-in desk at [[Miami International Airport]].<ref name="sting" /> Such arrests are significantly safer than arresting the fugitive at their home, as the target will often be unarmed and off-guard.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Jerry |title=On the Lam: A History of Hunting Fugitives in America |last2=Palattella |first2=Ed |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2019 |isbn=9781442262591 |location=Lanham, Maryland |pages=135–137}}</ref>
* Arranging for someone under the [[legal drinking age|legal drinking]] or [[legal smoking age|smoking age]] to buy [[alcoholic beverage|alcoholic beverages]] or [[tobacco]] products from a store,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-04 |title='One sale is one too many': Alcohol sold to minors in Northland |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/527033/one-sale-is-one-too-many-alcohol-sold-to-minors-in-northland |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=[[RNZ]] |language=en-nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bodell |first=Mackenzie |title=Two gas stations fail annual alcohol compliance checks |url=https://iowastatedaily.com/276159/news/two-gas-stations-fail-annual-alcohol-compliance-checks/ |access-date=2024-09-07 |website=Iowa State Daily}}</ref> or to ask an adult to buy the products for them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1878103&nav=9qrxNETb |publisher=kesq.com |title=Palm Springs, Coachella Valley – Weather, News, Sports: Special Report: Local police crack down on adults buying booze for minors |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115202841/http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1878103&nav=9qrxNETb |archive-date=15 January 2009 }}</ref>
* Police from [[Belgium]] posed as a [[documentary]] [[film crew]] to lure a Somali [[pirate]] to the country where he was thought to have hijacked a Belgian-registered ship. He was arrested at [[Brussels Airport]] and sentenced to 20 years in prison.<ref name="sting" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Somali Pirate Kingpin Sentenced to 20 Years |url=https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/somali-pirate-kingpin-sentenced-to-20-years |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=The Maritime Executive |language=en}}</ref>
* Canadian and American police coordinated a fake wedding for two undercover FBI agents, and the celebration was in fact an operation targeting an international smuggling and counterfeiting operation based out of [[China]]. A total of eight guests were stopped by local police en route to the event. Authorities said the defendants had been smuggling highly-realistic counterfeit American currency, bootleg cigarettes, drugs and illegal weapons.<ref name="sting" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jamie |date=2005-08-23 |title=FBI wedding sting busts crime ring |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/aug/24/usa.internationalcrime |access-date=2024-09-17 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
* Posting a newspaper advertisement seeking a type of rare item known to have been stolen. In 1998, three agencies joined forces to conduct a sting operation where they successfully recovered the [[Honduras lunar sample displays|Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock]] from a vault in Miami. The sting operation was known as "Operation Lunar Eclipse" and the participating agencies were [[NASA Office of Inspector General]], the [[United States Postal Inspection Service]] and [[United States Customs Service|U.S. Customs]]. The moon rock was offered to the undercover agents for {{US$|5}}&nbsp;million. Journalist [[Christina Reed]] broke that story in Geotimes in 2002.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.geotimes.org/sept02/NN_moon.html |publisher=American Geological Institute |work=Geotimes |title=Moon rocks for sale! |author=Christina Reed |date=September 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030518104456/http://www.geotimes.org/sept02/NN_moon.html |archive-date=18 May 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geotimes.org/nov04/trends.html |publisher=[[American Geological Institute]] |work=Geotimes |title= In Search of the Goodwill Moon Rocks: A Personal Account |author=Joseph Richard Gutheinz |author-link=Joseph Richard Gutheinz |date=November 2004}}</ref> Operation Lunar Eclipse and the Moon Rock Project were the subject of the book ''[[The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks]]'' by Joe Kloc.
* In 2021, David Ballantyne Smith, a security guard working at the British Embassy in Berlin was caught passing secret information to Russian authorities. The undercover operation was prompted by a letter he sent in 2020 to a military staff member at the Russian embassy in Berlin. Smith allegedly received money in exchange for secret information; there were unaccounted-for funds including €800 at his home in [[Potsdam]]. One undercover British operative posed as a "walk-in" Russian informant under the alias of Dmitry, when Smith escorted him into the building, after which Smith was seen on CCTV recording the earlier footage of Dmitry. A second undercover operative met him in the street and claimed to be a Russian intelligence officer named "Irina" who had been deployed to play the role of a [[GRU (Russian Federation)|GRU]] officer investigating whether Dmitry had been giving the UK information that had been potentially damaging to Russia. Smith, covertly recorded, told Irina that he needed to speak to "someone" (that someone being Dmitry) first before divulging any information.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-02-14 |title=British embassy spy snared by Berlin sting, court hears |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64639138 |access-date=2024-09-17 |publisher=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>
* Posing as a minor on the internet, luring and catching online predators in the act.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brody|first=Bernard |date=August 13, 2020|title= Not Guilty verdict in federal internet sex sting case: United States v. JWK |url= https://www.bernardbrody.com/case-results/not-guilty-verdict-in-federal-internet-sex-sting-case/ |work=Brody Law Firm|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20240518073607/https://www.bernardbrody.com/case-results/not-guilty-verdict-in-federal-internet-sex-sting-case/|archive-date=May 18, 2024}}</ref>