News Words: Scam

Welcome to the Voice of America’s News Words. Police in the American state of Utah recently rescued a missing Chinese teenager from a freezing mountain top. SCAM Police say the 17-year-old exchange student and his family were victims of an online kidnapping scam. Falsely acting as officials, Chinese criminals will tell a student to leave their housing. Then, they demand money from the student’s family in China for their safe “return.” A scam is a series of actions to cheat or trick people for personal gain. The words “con” and “racket” can be used in the same way.