sucker trap
noun1
Informal A scam; a fraudulent deal offered to the unwary.
- 'At this time of the year, Florida's the biggest sucker-trap on earth. On the East Coast they fleece the millionaires. Where we're going they just take it off the little man. Serves him right, of course. He goes there to die. He can't take it with him.'1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 119:
- I fell for a sucker trap and got taken but good. My own fault ... should have known better.2001, Mickey Spillane, The Mike Hammer Collection, volume 1, →ISBN:
2 more examples
- It had been a sucker trap and they had fallen right into it. Why, they had walked in here of their own free will, to keep an appointment made by the US Embassy.2011, Ken Follett, On Wings of Eagles, →ISBN:
- “Such a cheap sucker trap... a cheap sucker trap... and I fell for it!” he was hissing, glaring at Koves with a look of hatred from behind misted-up spectacles.2013, Imre Kertész, Fiasco, →ISBN:
- Related terms
- tourist trap