False pretenses' is a legal term used to describe a situation in which someone obtains property or money by deceiving another person. IMPOSTURE is a nine-letter word meaning the act of pretending to be someone else, while mountebankery is a thirteen-letter word meaning the practice of using deception to make money. SHAM is a four-letter word meaning something that is not genuine or real. All three words are related to the term 'false pretenses' and describe different aspects of deceiving someone in order to obtain property or money.