crookery

plural crookeries

1. countableuncountableThe activities of crooks; crime.

   But this is small time crookery to the real manipulators and deceivers.

   2003, Martin Howell, Predators and profits: 100+ ways for investors to protect their nest eggs

   2 more examples

   It was always intriguing to hear about some new form of crookery or deception.

   1959, Roald Dahl, Parson's Pleasure

   What the people never knew at the time was the scale and audacity of the crookeries of Harding's advisers. In 1923 the Senate investigated 'irregularities' in the Veterans' Bureau. It had been defrauded of tidy sums by its chief […]

   2008, Alistair Cooke, Alistair Cooke's America