scam
Americannoun
-
scams
plural
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Usage
What does scam mean? A scam is a deceptive scheme or trick used to cheat someone out of something, especially money. Scam is also a verb meaning to cheat someone in such a way. Example: Banks will never call you asking for your credit card number or social security number over the phone. If someone calls and asks for information like that, it’s a scam.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of scam
1960–65; originally carnival argot; of obscure origin
Explanation
A scam is a sneaky or dishonest plan that's meant to con someone. A diet scam, for example, falsely claims that people will lose weight if they buy special pills or drinks. A scam is basically a hoax dressed up to look like a real business plan, worthwhile invention, or investment idea. Scams are almost always designed to make money for their creators. You can also use the word as a verb: "His evil plan was to scam people into buying fake tickets to the baseball game." Word experts know that scam came from US carnival slang, but beyond that its origins are a mystery.
Vocabulary lists containing scam
Smoke and Mirrors: The Lingo of Illusion and Deception
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"Imperfect Me"
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Simply Scandalous!
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“It is not a scam device,” Holmes replies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
“So this is the famous scam device,” Fielder says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
She wasn’t sure if it was a scam until they spoke on the phone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The consumer advice charity says one in 10 of all the scams it recorded over the past year were related to roofing, making it the most common type of scam brought to them.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
If there was anything that terrified us as much as getting deported, it was that the principal's office would discover our address scam and send us down the road to the rough-and-tumble streets of Cupertino.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
To avoid falling victim to roofing scams, Citizens Advice suggests:
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
The consumer advice charity says one in 10 of all the scams it recorded over the past year were related to roofing, making it the most common type of scam brought to them.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
AI chatbots have made large-scale cheating among students -- what some educators call "homework scams" -- easier than ever, allowing them to generate credible solutions to almost any written assignment within seconds.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
Report scams to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a division of the FBI.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
Once in a while I’d leak stuff about phishing scams.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
In a desperate attempt to bring him back, Ma Moe San Pan was then scammed out of 4.5 million kyats by strangers who falsely promised his release.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The suit is the latest twist in a years-long saga for borrowers who attended schools that the government said scammed them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
The trailer then cuts to Fielder grilling Evans about whether he was afraid of being scammed, considering that he comes from a rich family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Johna backed out of the chat, realizing that she’d only just escaped being scammed.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
“And the mud. I don’t mind vacuuming for you. And, yes, I realize you just scammed me into doing your job. But isn’t it worth it to let the kid be a kid?”
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
He attended church services organized by Nigerians serving time for online scamming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
The soaking and scamming of undergrads and grad students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Here’s the common sense: This isn’t a problem of scamming students or lazy teachers, though of course both exist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
He had more than 50 previous convictions and had served a string of stints in jail for scamming women out of thousands of pounds through false promises of love to fund a luxury lifestyle.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
“They were scamming you. Girls scam guys all the time with that. Kerri was listening in on the extension.”
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
