scammer

noun

scam·​mer ˈska-mər 

plural scammers

: one who perpetrates a scam : a person who commits or participates in a fraudulent scheme or operation

insurance/credit card scammers

The company will not call you to ask for your Social Security or account number, but nefarious scammers might.

—Ellen Marks

Now that most people are alert to suspicious e-mails and phony phone calls, text messages are the new frontier for scammers out to con you.

—Consumer Reports

Synonyms of scammer

• cheat
• dodger
• shark
• swindler

Examples of scammer in a Sentence

Internet scammers who never seem to run out of swindles

Recent Examples on the Web

After scammers stole nearly €700,000 ($816,600) from Estonia’s Artists’ Association, artists donated 124 works to an emergency auction. — George Nelson, ARTnews.com, 24 Aug. 2026

In one case covered on the podcast, a woman drove to her bank with a scammer still on the phone and nearly withdrew $15,000. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Aug. 2026

Some scammers use the names of real employees or manipulate the caller ID to make the call seem legitimate. — Karma Sabbah, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026

But Arday was not greeted as a risible scammer endemic to the times. — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for scammer

• amor
• clamor
• clamour
• glamor
• glamour
• grammar
• hammer
• jammer
• rammer
• stammer
• programmer
• sledgehammer

Kids Definition

scammer

noun

scam·​mer ˈskam-ər 

: someone who perpetuates a scam : a person who commits or participates in a fraudulent scheme or operation