Also known as: flimflam · flim-flams · flimflams · swindle · confidence trick · fraud
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A scheme by which another is tricked for money through deception.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Felipe Figueroa dressed as a meter reader and told Frederick Ferguson he needed to inspect the basement for a supposed leak. Once inside the home at night, Figueroa stole valuables. The entry by this deceptive scheme satisfied the constructive breaking element.
Flora Ford sold a home to Felicity French after promising in the contract to repair the roof. At closing the deed omitted the promise. When French later discovered the unrepaired roof, the fraud exception allowed her suit despite merger of the contract into the deed.
Farah Fox sued Fidelity Trust alleging the bank tricked her into a loan through false statements about interest rates. The complaint listed the exact dates, speakers, and documents containing the misrepresentations, satisfying the particularity requirement.
Francesca Fowler learned her client planned to use her services to execute a flim flam that would defraud investors. After advising the client of the limits on assistance, Fowler withdrew from the representation.
Falcon Dynamics was undercapitalized and its owner commingled funds to run a flim flam that defrauded suppliers. The court disregarded the corporate form because adherence would sanction the fraud.
After Flora Ford's death, her nephew alleged the will was procured by a flim flam in which the beneficiary lied about the testator's health. The contestant bore the burden of proving fraud.
Flim flam is a confidence game that tricks the victim into voluntarily parting with money through a deceptive scheme.
Supporting sources
Yes. A lawyer who assists a client in committing or furthering a flim flam faces discipline for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty or fraud.
The circumstances constituting the fraud must be stated with particularity, including the who, what, when, and how of the deceptive scheme.
…may be those which both parties might fairly be supposed to have contemplated at the time of contracting. It was argued that fraud does not alter the logical basis of liability for natural consequences and that there was ample evidence that the defendants knew the purpose for which the shaft was sent and that…