pigeon drop
noun1
A confidence trick in which the mark or "pigeon" is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money or more valuable object.
- “You some kind of confidence man or dope peddler or something? You trying to work one of those pigeon drops on me?”1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 330:
- Related terms
- pigeon dropper, pigeon dropping, Spanish handkerchief