defraud
v.to trick someone out of their money or property by using lies or fake documents. You do this when you want to get something you are not legally allowed to have.
v.to deprive a person of property or money by means of fraud or deception. Transitive; requires a direct object representing the victim or the amount stolen.
“He tried to defraud the bank with a fake check.”
“The company was fined heavily after it was discovered that they had defrauded investors of millions of dollars.”
“By manipulating the accounting records, the executive managed to defraud the shareholders of their rightful dividends for several consecutive fiscal years.”
“Across the globe, online romance scammers use different techniques that vary across cultures to successfully defraud victims.”
“As a result, the five investors argue, they were defrauded of the nearly $1.2m they invested.”
From Middle English defrauden, from Old French defrauder, from de- + frauder.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.