How to say if a person earns lot of money especially in a bad ways or through illegal business. I want to know the verb of earning money through illegally and how can we call such a person.
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1Related: What do you call money earned through unethical sources? – FumbleFingers Jun 11 '15 at 15:53
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I do not know the verb, but, you could say, "His earnings were with black money." – Asker123 Jun 11 '15 at 16:17
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There are many different types of illegal activity (gambling, embezzling, robbery, narcotics, etc). Your question is too general. – TimR Jun 11 '15 at 17:34
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@Asker123: that is not idiomatic English. Perhaps "He earned his money on the black market". – TimR Jun 11 '15 at 17:36
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The wages of sin and a sinner. – bib Jun 11 '15 at 21:59
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- I do not know if there is a single verb to satisfy you, but there are several that are identified with the person's specific conduct.
These include embezzling, stealing, extorting, blackmailing, robbing, fencing, counterfeiting, loansharking, and the like.
- The noun that applies to all of these characters is "Crook".
LarryAt27N
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Note that crook and crooked are informal; the nearest formal equivalent is probably criminal. – Nate Eldredge Jun 12 '15 at 19:05
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scam(n/v)......is a sneaky or dishonest plan that's meant to con someone.
scamster(n).....: a person who deceives people to get their money.
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."
Misti
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+1, In the Indian sub continent , the newspapers are flooded with news on scams and scamsters. http://trak.in/tags/business/2010/11/25/top-10-corruption-scams-scandals-india/ – Ishan Yadav Jun 11 '15 at 18:11
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This is rather specific to money gained by fraud. For instance, you wouldn't use scamster to describe someone who earns money by selling illegal drugs, assuming that his customers actually receive the drugs they pay for. – Nate Eldredge Jun 12 '15 at 19:24
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I might talk of someone's ill-gotten gains. That is, incidentally, one of the few instances in Britain where we use gotten.
WS2
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A good verb that comes to mind, apart from steal and embezzle, is
Use deception to deprive (someone) of money or possessions:
a businessman swindled investors out of millions of pounds
1.1 Obtain (money) fraudulently:
he was said to have swindled £62.5 million from the state-owned cement industry
A person earning money through illegal businesses can be...
a racketeer ,
A person who engages in dishonest and fraudulent business dealings.
a fraudster,
A person who commits fraud, especially in business dealings.
or a con artist
A person who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true:
among others.
(ODO)
Tushar Raj
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I would suggest two possibilities. The person might be sharking
v.intr. To take advantage of others for personal gain, especially by fraud and trickery. [American Heritage Dictionary via the Free Dictionary]
or perhaps spivving, from spiv:-
n 1. Brit a person who makes a living by underhand dealings or swindling; black marketeer [Collins English Dictionary via the Free Dictionary]
Brian Hooper
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1Does "spiv" as a verb really exist? The only uses I can find online of "spivving" are as an alternative to "spiffing", which is completely different. (Edit: different in meaning, that is - I see that the etymology is linked.) – Morton Jun 11 '15 at 17:38
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You could call this person a "hustler", although it may have different meanings in different contexts. If you say, "He makes his money by hustling," most people would assume that 'his' profits are ill-gotten.
Oldbag
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