The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - swindle v.

1) cheat, cozen, bilk, defraud, deceive, hoodwink, take in, fleece, dupe, fool, mulct, gull, make a fool or sucker (out) of, victimize, exploit, trick, Old-fashioned or literary euchre, Archaic chouse, Colloq bamboozle, chisel, diddle, pull a fast one on, flimflam, pluck, burn, take (someone) for a ride, Brit fiddle, US buffalo, Slang con, sting, screw, rook, gyp, rip (someone) off: The gang has swindled several elderly people out of their life savings. --n. 2) fraud, confidence game or trick, cheating, swindling, defrauding, deception, racket, trickery, sharp practice, thimblerigging, chicanery, knavery, Colloq Brit fiddle, swizzle or swizz, Slang rip-off, scam, con (game) , gyp, US bunco: Those old-time swindles are nothing compared with the activities of unscrupulous stock brokers.