Scam vs. Scum

A fraudulent deal.

Example: ‘That marketing scheme looks like a scam to me.’;

Something that is promoted using scams.

Example: ‘That car was a scam.’;

(transitive) To defraud or embezzle.

Example: ‘They tried to scam her out of her savings.’;

a fraudulent business scheme

deprive of by deceit;

Example: ‘He swindled me out of my inheritance’; ‘She defrauded the customers who trusted her’; ‘the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change’;

(uncountable) A layer of impurities that accumulates at the surface of a liquid (especially molten metal or water).

Example: ‘During smelting, scum rises to the surface and is then removed by the smelter.’;

(uncountable) A greenish water vegetation (such as algae), usually found floating on the surface of ponds

Example: ‘These organisms form scum in large quantities.’;

The topmost liquid layer of a cesspool or septic tank.

semen

A reprehensible person or persons.

Example: ‘People who sell used-up pens are scum, just total low-lives.’;

To remove the layer of scum from (a liquid etc.).

To remove (something) as scum.

To become covered with scum.

(obsolete) To scour (the land, sea etc.).

(obsolete) To gather together, as scum.

To startscum or savescum.

The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a molten state; dross.

Example: ‘Some to remove the scum as it did rise.’;

refuse; recrement; anything vile or worthless.

Example: ‘The great and innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people.’;

To take the scum from; to clear off the impure matter from the surface of; to skim.

Example: ‘You that scum the molten lead.’;

To sweep or range over the surface of.

Example: ‘Wandering up and down without certain seat, they lived by scumming those seas and shores as pirates.’;

To form a scum; to become covered with scum. Also used figuratively.

Example: ‘Life, and the interest of life, have stagnated and scummed over.’;

worthless people

a film of impurities or vegetation that can form on the surface of a liquid