fly-by-nights
Shady overnight vanishers
Fly-by-nights are people or businesses considered untrustworthy or unlikely to meet their obligations, especially ones that appear suddenly and vanish just as quickly—often after taking your money.
The term suggests operating under cover of darkness to avoid accountability.
The contractor turned out to be one of those fly-by-nights who disappeared after the deposit cleared.
As an adjective, fly-by-night describes such unreliable enterprises: a fly-by-night operation.
Those betting on markets
- profiteersThose gaining from hardship
- exploitersThose who abuse others
- carpetbaggersOutsiders exploiting local turmoil
- fortune-huntersThose seeking wealthy mates
gold-diggers · opportunists · chancers · wheeler-dealers · boom-and-bust · vultures · predators · mercenaries
Not consistently performing
- undependableNot consistently trustworthy
- shadyDisreputable or sun-blocked
- dubiousOf uncertain reliability
- questionableOf uncertain validity
disreputable · sketchy · iffy · flaky · slippery · shifty · dodgy · unscrupulous
Deceivers who steal through trickery
- scammersPeople who defraud others
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
- con-artistsFraudsters who manipulate victims
- hustlersThose who deceive for profit
charlatans · grifters · flimflammers · crooks · cheats · sharks · sharpers · tricksters
speculators
Those betting on markets
- profiteersThose gaining from hardship
- exploitersThose who abuse others
- carpetbaggersOutsiders exploiting local turmoil
fortune-hunters · gold-diggers · opportunists · chancers · wheeler-dealers · boom-and-bust · vultures · predators · mercenaries · adventurers
unreliable
Not consistently performing
- undependableNot consistently trustworthy
- shadyDisreputable or sun-blocked
- dubiousOf uncertain reliability
questionable · disreputable · sketchy · iffy · flaky · slippery · shifty · dodgy · unscrupulous · unprincipled
swindlers
Deceivers who steal through trickery
- scammersPeople who defraud others
- fraudstersPeople who deceive for gain
- con-artistsFraudsters who manipulate victims
hustlers · charlatans · grifters · flimflammers · crooks · cheats · sharks · sharpers · tricksters · mountebanks
drifters
Aimless travelers, homeless rovers
- nomadsUnsettled, roving people
- vagabondsHomeless itinerant travelers
- itinerantsRoving, unsettled people
wanderers · floaters · migrants · rovers · gypsies · transients · rootless · footloose · unsettled · peripatetic
fly-by-nightsinstitutions
Established organizations or practices
pillars of the community · stalwarts · mainstays · fixtures · household names
night, flies, flying, flights, flight, nights, nightly, nighttime, overnight