salami-slicing

Salami-slicing is a technique of achieving a goal through many small, incremental actions rather than one large move.

In politics or military strategy, it describes gradually taking territory or power in pieces too small to provoke strong resistance: The regime's salami-slicing approach to civil liberties went largely unnoticed until freedoms had vanished entirely.

In fraud, it refers to skimming tiny amounts from many accounts, each theft too minor to trigger detection but adding up to significant sums.