phoneys
Pretenders and frauds
Phoneys is the plural of phoney, a variant spelling of phony.
A phoney is someone or something fake or insincere—a fraud or pretender: The psychic turned out to be a phoney.
As an adjective, phoney describes what lacks authenticity: phoney accents, phoney documents, phoney smiles.
The spelling with -ey is more common in British English.
Intentional criminal trickery
- fakerOne who pretends
- charlatanFaker claiming false expertise
- pretenderIllegitimate claimant to power
- impostorOne feigning another's identity
sham · quack · conman · scammer · grifter · deceiver · trickster · hoaxer
Feigns virtue falsely
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- facadeDeceptive outward appearance
- affectationArtificial behavior for effect
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
two-faced · disingenuous · feigned · insincere · duplicity · false friend · backstabber · flatterer
fraud
Intentional criminal trickery
impostor · sham · quack · conman · scammer · grifter · deceiver · trickster · hoaxer · mountebank
hypocrite
Feigns virtue falsely
- pretenseDeceptive outward show
- facadeDeceptive outward appearance
- affectationArtificial behavior for effect
posturing · two-faced · disingenuous · feigned · insincere · duplicity · false friend · backstabber · flatterer · sycophant
fake
Not the real thing
bogus · spurious · ersatz · pseudo · replica · imitation · simulation · facsimile · reproduction · mock
phoneysgenuine articles
Authentic items, not counterfeits
originals · legitimates · actualities · real deals · bona fides