Confidence trick in the context of "Social engineering (security)"

A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in the Canterbury Tales story "The Pardoner's Tale," with the Pardoner who tricks sinners into buying fake religious relics. Synonyms for charlatan include shyster, quack, or faker. Quack is a reference to quackery or the practice of dubious medicine, including the sale of snake oil, or a person who does not have medical training who purports to provide medical services.

Nootropics (/noʊ.əˈtroʊpɪks/ noh-ə-TROHP-iks or /noʊ.əˈtrɒpɪks/ noh-ə-TROP-iks) (colloquially brain supplements, smart drugs, cognitive enhancers, memory enhancers, or brain boosters) are chemical substances which purportedly improve cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, wakefulness, and self-control.

In the United States, nootropics can be over-the-counter drugs and commonly advertised with unproven claims of effectiveness for improving cognition. The Federal Trade Commission and FDA have warned manufacturers and consumers about possible advertising fraud and marketing scams concerning nootropic supplements. Nootropics include both prescription drugs and dietary supplements marketed to enhance brain function, but while FDA-approved drugs have proven benefits and oversight, many dietary supplements lack evidence, may contain unapproved or hidden drugs, and pose safety and regulatory risks.

Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card fraud, mortgage fraud, medical fraud, corporate fraud, securities fraud (including insider trading), bank fraud, insurance fraud, market manipulation, payment (point of sale) fraud, health care fraud); theft; scams or confidence tricks; tax evasion; bribery; sedition; embezzlement; identity theft; money laundering; and forgery and counterfeiting, including the production of counterfeit money and consumer goods.

Financial crimes may involve additional criminal acts, such as computer crime and elder abuse and even violent crimes including robbery, armed robbery or murder. Financial crimes may be carried out by individuals, corporations, or by organized crime groups. Victims may include individuals, corporations, governments, and entire economies.

Low-life (pl. low-lifes or low-lives; also lowlife) is a pejorative term for a person who is of low social status due to their low moral character. Examples of individuals typically referred to as low-life include bullies, criminals, drug dealers, vandals, homeless people, alcoholics, gangsters, sex offenders, sex traffickers, aggressive panhandlers, scammers, and thieves.

Often, the term is used as an indication of disapproval of antisocial or self-destructive behaviors, usually bearing a connotation of contempt and derision. This usage of the word dates to 1911. The long-term origins of the ideas behind this in the Western world trace back to ancient times with the distinction of high culture associated with aristocracy at the top of the social hierarchy who were regarded in aristocrat-dominated society as compared with low culture associated with commoners at the bottom of the social hierarchy that included many impoverished people among them.