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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
confidence trick
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A professional golfer tries to pull off a confidence trick against his own body.
▪ Being the host with the most was essential to Archer's confidence trick.
Wiktionary
confidence trick

n. A method of cheating somebody by winning their confidence and inducing them to hand over money (or other valuables).

WordNet
confidence trick

n. a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property [syn: bunco, bunco game, bunko, bunko game, con, confidence game, con game, gyp, hustle, sting, flimflam]

Wikipedia
Confidence trick

A confidence trick (synonyms include confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam and stratagem) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. Confidence tricks exploit characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty, honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, naïveté and greed.

Usage examples of "confidence trick".

The confidence trick would have ended in five minutes if it hadn't been for John Self.

After every sale in those early days he felt he had pulled off a deep confidence trick, and had difficulty in hiding his exultation.

I realize that you have heard that sort of thing before, and that my suggestion has all the appearance of a confidence trick, except that I do not offer you even the substantial security of a gold brick.

Some kind of elaborate confidence trick has made them into what the veterinary fellows call host-mothers.

But for the mass of historical evidence, he could have suspected a gigantic public-relations confidence trick.