chiselers
Small-time con artists
Chiselers are people who cheat or swindle others, typically through petty fraud or by repeatedly taking small advantages: Those chiselers at the garage charged me for parts they never replaced.
The term suggests someone who chips away at others' money or goodwill rather than committing grand theft.
Also spelled chisellers.
Deceivers who steal through trickery
- conmenThose who defraud through deception
- griftersPetty swindlers, confidence tricksters
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
- scammersPeople who defraud others
cheats · charlatans · impostors · flimflammers · mountebanks · tricksters · sharpers · bilkers
Artists who shape forms
- stonecuttersThose who shape rock
- woodcarversCraftspeople who sculpt timber
- engraversThose who carve designs
- artisansSkilled manual workers
masons · craftsmen · carvers · whittlers · toolers · mallet · gouge · stonework
Deliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- cunningSly, scheming cleverness
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
trickery · sham · pretense · artifice · fakery · fraud · hoax · scam
Exploitative overpricing
- overchargingDemanding excessive payment
- skimmingPassing lightly over
- shortchangingGiving back too little
- profiteeringExploiting scarcity for gain
penny-pinching · stiffing · cheating · swindling · fleecing · bilking · greed · underpaying
swindlers
Deceivers who steal through trickery
- conmenThose who defraud through deception
- griftersPetty swindlers, confidence tricksters
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
scammers · cheats · charlatans · impostors · flimflammers · mountebanks · tricksters · sharpers · bilkers · fleecers
sculptors
Artists who shape forms
- stonecuttersThose who shape rock
- woodcarversCraftspeople who sculpt timber
- engraversThose who carve designs
artisans · masons · craftsmen · carvers · whittlers · toolers · mallet · gouge · stonework · woodworking
deceit
Deliberate misleading of others
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- cunningSly, scheming cleverness
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
subterfuge · trickery · sham · pretense · artifice · fakery · fraud · hoax · scam · con
gouging
Exploitative overpricing
- overchargingDemanding excessive payment
- skimmingPassing lightly over
- shortchangingGiving back too little
profiteering · penny-pinching · stiffing · cheating · swindling · fleecing · bilking · greed · underpaying · extortion
- metalworkersblacksmith, blacksmiths, silversmith, silversmiths, goldsmith
- deceiversliar, liars, deceiver, fraud, fake
- predatorspredators, hunters, lions, falcon, fox
chiselersphilanthropists
Generous supporters of good causes
benefactors · givers · altruists · donors · big spenders
chiselerssaints
Canonized religious figures
paragons · good eggs · stand-up guys · mensch · pillars of the community