Word Study
scam
OXFORD DICTIONARY
scam, n. US sl.
1 a trick or swindle; a fraud.
2 a story or rumour.
1 a trick or swindle; a fraud.
2 a story or rumour.
Etymology
20th c.: orig. unkn.
THESAURUS
scam
ballot-box stuffing, beat, beguile of, bilk, bunco, burn, cardsharping, cheat, cheating, chisel, chouse, chouse out of, cog, cog the dice, con, cozen, cozenage, crib, defraud, diddle, diddling, dishonesty, do in, do out of, dodge, euchre, finagle, fishy transaction, flam, fleece, flimflam, fob, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, fudge, gerrymandering, gouge, graft, grift, gull, gyp, gyp joint, have, hocus, hocus-pocus, illicit business, imposition, imposture, mulct, pack the deal, pigeon, practice fraud upon, racket, rook, screw, sell gold bricks, shave, shortchange, stack the cards, stick, sting, swindle, take a dive, thimblerig, throw a fight, victimizeFor further exploring for "scam" in Webster Dictionary Online