flimflam

1 a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end giving the new guy at work her cell phone number—“in case of an emergency”—was just a flimflam to pique his romantic interest Synonyms artifice, device, dodge, fetch, trick, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wileRelated Words bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen

2 an instance of the use of dishonest methods to acquire something of value just the latest Internet flimflam to get e-mail recipients to reveal bank account numbers and other personal information Synonyms bunco (or bunko), con, fiddle [chiefly British], fraud, gyp, hustle, scam, shell game, sting, swindleRelated Words cross, fix; Ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme; racket, rip-off; thimblerig, three-card monte; device, dodge, gimmick, jig, ploy, scheme, sleight, stratagem, trick, wile; gouging, overcharging, soaking; counterfeit, fake, forgery, hoax, humbug, phony (also phoney), sham