spiv

plural spivs

1. IrelandUKhistoricalA smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
2. IrelandUKdatedA flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.

   I mean, Mayfair is just top spivs stepping into the slippers of the former gentry, and Belgravia, like I've said, is all flats in houses built as palaces, and Chelsea—well!

   1960 [1959], Colin MacInnes, Absolute Beginners, New York: Macmillan, page 65

   2 more examples

   It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. "My people," he called them, "my brothers and sisters" […]

   1978, Paul Theroux, Picture Palace, page 92

   I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than [transport union leader] Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer.

   2010 September 22, Gavin Stamp, quoting Vince Cable, “Cable in attack on bonuses for City 'spivs'”, in BBC News

   Synonyms: sharper, chiseler, wide boy, bunco-steerer, charlatan, cheat, jackal, cheater

3. IrelandUKdatedScotland YardA low and common thief.
4. IrelandUKdatedA slacker; one who shirks responsibility.