[Ads-l] Scam etymology

[Zeke Faux]

Hi everybody – I’m a writer and investigative reporter (author of a book on
crypto and fraud called Number Go Up) and I am looking into the etymology
of the word “scam” for a new book.

Some sources (OED) cite a 1963 interview with Steve McQueen in Time
Magazine as the first usage. He’s talking about when he was a carny, and he
says, “It was a full scam. My boss was scammin’ from the public and I was
scammin’ from him.” A few years later, the word appeared in the Wall Street
Journal, and at that time, the writer explained that it was originally
carny slang, but was now being applied to bankruptcy fraud.

But Green’s has an entry from 1958, a use in a novel called Vice Trap
that’s not in a carnival context. “He scammed me the stuff was yours.”

There are also two early entries in Green’s for similar words. Neither
comes from carnies:
D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 201: By this time I figure out what the scamus
is. (1944)
C. Stoker Thicker ’n Thieves 406: This obviously was newspaper ‘skam’
designed to buttress the political fortunes of Mayor Bowron. (1951)

I couldn’t find any references to “scam” in David Maurer’s books (my
favorite con man reference), and my attempts to verify the carny origins in
articles about carny slang have failed.

Does anyone know where this word comes from, and if the carny story is
true? Thank you, Zeke

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