Don't think anyone can argue with that? And the polite confidence trickster, or less polite scammer, seem decent summaries for such behaviour.
I am not arguing with that at all. Nor am I agreeing with it. It just seemed to me that somehow the idea caught on that "scammer" was the euphemism that Dewey was talking about. I don't think that's correct. I think he was saying that "confidence trickster" is a euphemism for scammer. I am not trying to defend or attack either position or criticize or support the use of one over the other. I am simply pointing out what seemed to me to be a misunderstanding that started to catch on. Could it possibly matter one way or another? No. But that can be said about most if not all of the chatter here.