put someone up to

Idioms  

1. Incite someone to do something, especially a mischievous or malicious act. For example, My brother put me up to making those prank telephone calls, or They didn't think of it on their own; someone put them up to it. [Early 1800s]

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Example Sentences

"Someone from Discogs messaged me last week, informing me that they'd had this sale, and I thought, 'It's a wind-up, one of my mates must've must have put someone up to something' - because it just seemed farcical," he explains.

From BBC

“It was so completely out of the blue, I thought my husband had put someone up to it, that it was a joke, so I ended the call,” she says, laughing.

From The Guardian