1.

scam noun [C] INFORMAL

an illegal plan for making money:
an insurance scam

2. con artist noun [C] (ALSO con man)

a person who deceives other people by
making them believe something false or
making them give money away

3. devastated adjective
1 completely destroyed:
Thousands of people have left their devastated villages and fled to the
mountains.

2 very shocked and upset:

She was utterly devastated when her husband died.

4. seduce (ATTRACT) verb [T usually

passive]
1 to cause someone to do something that
they would not usually consider doing by
being very attractive and difficult to refuse:
I wouldn't normally have bought this, but I
was seduced by the low price.
They were seduced into buying the washing
machine by the offer of a free flight to the United States.

2 If you are seduced by something, you like it because it seems attractive:

Almost every visitor to Edinburgh is seduced by its splendid architecture.

seductive adjective
making you want to do, have or believe
something, because of seeming attractive:
Television confronts the viewer with a
succession of glittering and seductive
images.
The argument that sanctions should be
given more time to work is seductive but
fatally flawed.

5. onslaught noun [C]

a very powerful attack:

Page 1 of 8
 It is unlikely that his forces could withstand an allied onslaught for very
long.
Scotland's onslaught on Wales in the second half of the match earned
them a 4-1 victory.

6. intercept verb
[T]
to stop and catch something or someone
before they are able to reach a particular
place:
Law enforcement agents intercepted a
shipment of drugs from Latin America.

7. counterfeit adjective
made to look like the original of something, usually for dishonest or illegal
purposes:
counterfeit jewellery/passports/coins

8. furthest adverb, superlative of far (DISTANCE):

That's the furthest I can see without glasses.
I wanted to be an actress but the furthest I ever got was selling ice-creams
in a theatre.

9. greed noun [U]

a very strong wish to continually get more of
something, especially food or money:
I don't know why I'm eating more - it's not
hunger, it's just greed!
He was unsympathetic with many house
sellers, complaining that they were motivated
by greed.

10. sympathetic adjective

1 describes someone who shows, especially by what they say, that they
understand and care about someone's suffering:
He suffers from back trouble too, so he was very sympathetic about my
problem.

11. get to the bottom of sth

to discover the truth about a situation:
I'm not sure what is causing the problem, but I'm determined to get to the
bottom of it.

Page 2 of 8
12. pretence, US USUALLY pretense noun [U]
a way of behaving that is intended to deceive people:
She made absolutely no pretence of being interested.
They kept up (= continued) a pretence of normality as long as they could.
The army has given up any pretence of neutrality in the war.
See

13. scheme noun [C]

1 MAINLY UK an officially organized plan
or system:
a training/housing/play scheme
a pension/savings scheme
There's a new scheme in our town for
recycling plastic bottles.
Class sizes will increase under the new
scheme.

2 a plan for obtaining an advantage for yourself, especially by deceiving

others:
He's got a hare-brained/crazy/daft scheme for getting rich before he's
20.

14. con man, conman noun [C]

a con artist

15. celebrity noun

1 [C] someone who is famous, especially in the entertainment business

2 [U] the state of being famous

16. red-handed adjective

catch sb red-handed to find someone in
the act of doing something illegal

17. crack down phrasal verb

to start dealing with bad or illegal
behaviour in a more severe way:
The library is cracking down on people
who lose their books.

Page 3 of 8
18. seize verb
[T] If the police or other officials seize
something, they take possession of it
with legal authority:
Customs officers at Heathrow have
seized 60 kilos of heroin.

19. stun (SHOCK) verb [T] -nn-

to shock or surprise someone very
much:
News of the disaster stunned people
throughout the world.
She was stunned by the amount of support she received from well-wishers.

stunned adjective
They stood in stunned silence beside the bodies.
I am stunned and saddened by this news.

20. gullible adjective

easily deceived or tricked, and too willing to believe everything that other
people say:
There are any number of miracle cures on the market for people gullible
enough to buy them.

21. feel for sb phrasal verb

to experience sympathy and sadness for
someone because they are suffering:
I know what it's like to be lonely, so I do feel for
her.

22. bureau (ORGANIZATION)

noun [C] plural bureaux or US AND
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH USUALLY bureaus
1 an organization or a business that collects or provides information:
Her disappearance was reported to the police department's Missing
Persons Bureau.

2 MAINLY US a government organization:

the Federal Bureau of Investigation

23. alias noun [C]

a false name, especially one used by a

Page 4 of 8
 criminal:
He travels under (= using) an alias.

24. woo verb [T] wooing, wooed,

wooed
1 to try to persuade someone to support
you or to use your business:
The party has been trying to woo the voters
with promises of electoral reform.
The airline has been offering discounted
tickets to woo passengers away from their
competitors.

25. 2 OLD-FASHIONED If a man woos a woman, he gives her a lot of attention

in an attempt to persuade her to marry him:
He wooed her for months with flowers and expensive presents.

26. solicit verb

1 [T] FORMAL to ask someone for money, information or help:
to solicit donations for a charity
It is illegal for public officials to solicit gifts or money in exchange for
favours.

27. unsolicited adjective

not requested:
unsolicited advice

28. horrendous adjective

extremely unpleasant or bad:
a horrendous accident/tragedy/crime
horrendous suffering/damage
Conditions in the refugee camps were horrendous.
The firm made horrendous (= very big) losses last year.

29. deceit noun [C or U]

(an act of) keeping the truth hidden, especially to get an advantage:
The story is about theft, fraud and deceit on an incredible scale.
When the newspapers published the full story, all his earlier deceits were
revealed.

Page 5 of 8
 deceitful adjective
deceitful behaviour

30. liable (RESPONSIBLE) adjective [after verb] SPECIALIZED

having (legal) responsibility for something or someone:
The law holds parents liable if a child does not attend school.
If we lose the case we may be liable for (= have to pay) the costs of the
whole trial.

31. forge verb [T]

to make an illegal copy of something in order to deceive:
a forged passport
a forged signature
A number of forged works of art have been sold as genuine.

32. Prince Charming noun [S] HUMOROUS

A woman's Prince Charming is her perfect partner:
How much time have you wasted sitting
around waiting for Prince Charming to
appear?

33. devastate verb [T]

1 to destroy a place or thing completely or
cause great damage

2 to make someone feel very shocked and

upset

devastated adjective
1 completely destroyed:
Thousands of people have left their devastated villages and fled to the
mountains.

2 very shocked and upset:

She was utterly devastated when her husband died.

34. dig sth up (INFORMATION) phrasal verb [M]

to discover secret or forgotten facts by searching very carefully:
I've been doing some research on our family history and I've dug up some
interesting information.

Page 6 of 8
 She's one of those journalists who's always trying to dig up dirt on (=
private details about) celebrities.

35. brazen adjective

obvious, without any attempt to be hidden:
There were instances of brazen cheating in the
exams.
He told me a brazen lie.

brazenly adverb

36. venue noun [C]

1 the place where a public event or meeting happens:
The hotel is an ideal venue for conferences and business meetings.
The stadium has been specifically designed as a venue for European Cup
matches.

2 US SPECIALIZED the city or county in which a trial happens

37. thorough (COMPLETE) adjective

complete, very great, very much:
It was a thorough waste of time.

38. con artist noun [C] (ALSO con man)

a person who deceives other people by making
them believe something false or making them
give money away

39. mandate noun [C usually

singular]
the authority given to an elected group of
people, such as a government, to perform an
action or govern a country:
At the forthcoming elections, the government will be seeking a fresh
mandate from the people.
[+ to infinitive] The president secured the Congressional mandate to go to
war by three votes.

40. authenticate verb [T]

to prove that something is real, true, or what people say it is:
They used carbon dating tests to authenticate the claim that the skeleton
was 2 million years old.

Page 7 of 8
41. wire (SEND MESSAGE) verb [T] MAINLY US
1 to send a message using an electrical communication system, especially
to send an amount of money to
someone in this way:
The insurance company wired millions of
dollars to its accounts to cover the
payments.
[+ two objects] Luckily my father wired
me two hundred bucks.

42. be beside yourself

If you are beside yourself with a
particular feeling or emotion, it is so strong that it makes you almost out of
control:
He was beside himself with grief when she died.

43. ecstatic adjective

extremely happy:
The new president was greeted by an ecstatic crowd.

44. forge (COPY) verb [T]

to make an illegal copy of something in
order to deceive:
a forged passport
a forged signature
A number of forged works of art have been
sold as genuine.

45. prevention noun [U]

when you stop something from happening or stop someone from doing
something:
crime prevention
The organization is committed to AIDS prevention and education.

Page 8 of 8