: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation
an insurance scam
scammed; scamming; scams
1
: to deceive and defraud (someone)
… the law firm had got the lucrative job of defending the corporate head of a savings and loan that had scammed another thousand or so people out of their savings …—
Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Wambaugh2
: to obtain (something, such as money) by a scam
A Boston hedge fund manager who scammed millions of dollars from friends, family and other investors in what authorities say was a Ponzi scheme has been sent to prison for more than 14 years.—The Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & Gazette
The Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & GazetteExamples of scam in a Sentence
Noun
She was the victim of an insurance scam.
a sophisticated credit card scam
Verb
The company scammed hundreds of people out of their life savings.
I could tell they were scamming you and charging too much.
They scammed a lot of money from unwary customers.
Recent Examples on the Web
Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025
Those eight winners included the phishing-centric Norton Genie scam detector as well as NordVPN and Surfshark, both of which primarily focus on VPN protection.
—PC Magazine, 14 May 2025
Kim Key, PC Magazine, 1 May 2025
From phishing to scam phone calls, cybercrime is on the rise, with 34% of Americans reporting having experienced an online scam in 2024.
—Chris Gallagher, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scam
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Noun
This one click setting will enable the latest set of theft, fraud and scam defenses within calls and messages, disable higher risk networks, and mandate safe browsing and Play Protect.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025
Those eight winners included the phishing-centric Norton Genie scam detector as well as NordVPN and Surfshark, both of which primarily focus on VPN protection.
—PC Magazine, 14 May 2025
Verb
Audio and video deepfakes created with generative AI tools add a new, terrifying wrinkle to scam spotting.
—Kim Key, PC Magazine, 1 May 2025
From phishing to scam phone calls, cybercrime is on the rise, with 34% of Americans reporting having experienced an online scam in 2024.
—Chris Gallagher, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scam
Cite this Entry
“Scam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scam. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
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