Deception And Fraud Vocabulary

verb to deceive or trick someone through elaborate means

• The con artist bamboozled the elderly couple out of their life savings.
• I can't believe he bamboozled us into buying that old car.
• She totally bamboozled me with her smooth talk.
• The magician bamboozled the audience with his impressive sleight of hand tricks.

verb past tense of 'bust', meaning to break or damage something

adjective a slang term used to describe something that is broken or damaged

• The suspect was busted for embezzlement after a thorough investigation.
• I heard Jenny got busted for sneaking out past curfew last night.
• I can't believe we got busted by the cops at the party last weekend.
• His plan to cheat on the exam was busted when the teacher caught him in the act.

noun a deception or trick

verb to deceive or trick someone

• The con artist managed to hoodwink the elderly couple out of their life savings.
• I can't believe he tried to hoodwink us with that fake Rolex.
• Don't let anyone hoodwink you into buying that overpriced junk.
• Her charming smile was enough to hoodwink anyone into believing her lies.

noun a person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them out of their money; a charlatan or swindler

• The mountebank attempted to deceive the crowd with his false medical claims.
• That mountebank is always trying to trick people into buying his products.
• I can't stand that mountebank, he's such a scam artist.
• The politician was accused of being a mountebank, using deceptive tactics to win votes.

noun a person who pretends to be someone else, especially in order to deceive others

• The pretender to the throne was quickly exposed as an impostor.
• That guy is such a pretender, always acting like he knows everything.
• She's just a pretender, trying to fit in with the cool crowd.
• The dark clouds were just pretenders, the storm never actually arrived.