: 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
Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 10 July 2025
Less than halfway through 2025, eight similar scams have cost victims more than $256,000.
—Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 10 July 2025
Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
When did scam turnpike texts in Ohio start? Ohio Turnpike toll payment scam texts started to appear more frequently on cell phones in April 2024.
—Mariyam Muhammad, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for scam
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Noun
But the incident is the latest high-profile example of how easy—and alarmingly convincing—AI voice scams have become.
—Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 10 July 2025
Less than halfway through 2025, eight similar scams have cost victims more than $256,000.
—Susan Tompor, Freep.com, 10 July 2025
Verb
The impersonation scams that Amazon is warning about in this new email, however, concern Prime membership subscriptions specifically.
—Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025
When did scam turnpike texts in Ohio start? Ohio Turnpike toll payment scam texts started to appear more frequently on cell phones in April 2024.
—Mariyam Muhammad, The Enquirer, 2 July 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 18 Jul. 2025.
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