scam

noun

\ ˈskam

Definition of scam

(Entry 1 of 2)

: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation an insurance scam

scam

verb

scammed; scamming

Definition of scam (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : deceive, defraud

2 : to obtain (something, such as money) by a scam

Other Words from scam Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about scam

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Synonyms for scam

Synonyms: Noun

bunco (or bunko), con, fiddle [chiefly British], flimflam, fraud, gyp, hustle, shell game, sting, swindle

Examples 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: Noun

What's more, the conspiracy theory suggests, the entire crash was an insurance scam gone wrong. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "The Wild Conspiracy That the Titanic Never Sank," 27 Feb. 2019 In a Facebook post today, the brothers alerted their 973,573 followers that there's a scam circulating wherein someone who is decidedly not from their company tries to offer their services. — Kaitlin Menza, House Beautiful, "There's A Property Brothers Scam Circulating On The Internet," 25 Jan. 2019 After all, the whole thing couldn’t just be a ridiculous scam if there were grownups in the room like Mattis on the board of directors. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "There never were any “adults in the room”," 21 Dec. 2018 But, also be prepared for a lesson about how corrupt and scam-ridden the cryptocurrency world has become. — Morgen Peck, Glamour, "Cryptocurrency Is Not Just a Boys' Club," 11 Dec. 2018 Find out more information about this or other scams with the BBB Scam Tracker. — Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, "New Gift Card Scam Wipes Cards Before You Can Even Give Them, Warns the BBB," 7 Dec. 2018 According to Vice, the second arrest was the result of another alleged scam that McFarland launched while out on bail. — Lauren Rearick, Teen Vogue, "Fyre Festival Founder Billy McFarland Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison," 11 Oct. 2018 Thanks in part to this laissez faire approach, and thanks in part to pressure to keep user counts high, Twitter also did little to stop the spread of bots, which have been used to scam users, influence elections, and generally drive everyone nuts. — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, "Is Twitter Good Now?," 13 July 2018 Ginsberg noted that if a user is reported as asking for money, they will be banned in order to stop scams. — CBS News, ""The world has really changed" when it comes to online dating," 13 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The film revolves around a group of former strip club employees who scam their rich clients. — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Cardi B Is Joining J.Lo, Constance Wu, and More in a Film About Scamming Strip Club Employees," 19 Mar. 2019 Anybody can scam, that was last summer's big takeaway. — Cady Drell, Marie Claire, "Elizabeth Holmes Is a Tragic Figure," 18 Mar. 2019 Any attempt to defraud or scam others is in clear violation of our terms of service and strictly prohibited. — Patricia Hernandez, The Verge, "Internet rallies around VoiceoverPete after he gets booted from Fiverr," 9 Nov. 2018 Below are examples of impostor accounts, these impostors attempt to harass & scam individuals. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Online Scammers Won't Stop Impersonating This Four-Star Army General," 14 Aug. 2018 Business Email Compromise scams proliferate because more business is being done online, officials said. — Lisa J. Huriash, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Feds arrest 23 in S. Florida business email scheme," 14 June 2018 Dow narrowly lost his re-election bid to council last fall, so he's been trying to scam his way back onto the public dole. — Mark Naymik, cleveland.com, "CLE Chatter: Complaining costs Bay Village new library (for now); TJ Dow proves he's still deplorable; and other tidbits from our town," 27 Apr. 2018 In response, Panera Information Security Director Mike Gustavison accused Houlihan of trying to scam the company, according to screenshots of emails published by Houlihan in his blog post yesterday. — Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, "Panera accused security researcher of “scam” when he reported a major flaw," 3 Apr. 2018 These callers are often trying to scam us in some way. — Carol Motsinger, Cincinnati.com, "We got about a billion robocalls in Ohio last year. Yes, a billion.," 21 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'scam.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.