confidence trick

British  

noun

1. Informal shortened forms: con trick.   con game.  a swindle involving money, goods, etc, in which the victim's trust is won by the swindler

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confidence trick

Investigators are trying to figure out if the fraudsters research their victims or whether they are using a confidence trick.

From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2022

He was jailed for 10 years for perpetrating a "callous confidence trick", the judge said.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2018

But, the novel reveals, Mercer is just an elderly actor, desperate for work; the religion is a confidence trick.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 27, 2017

“This report is a sham, this report is a whitewash, this report is a confidence trick dressed up as independent scrutiny and given invisible clothes of reliability,” she said.

From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2012

Public speaking, like writing, is in many ways a confidence trick.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith