contrivance vs scam

contrivance

noun
  • Something overly artful or artificial. 

  • A means, such as an elaborate plan or strategy, to accomplish a certain objective. 

  • A (mechanical) device to perform a certain task. 

scam

noun
  • Something that is promoted using scams. 

  • A fraudulent deal. 

verb
  • To defraud or embezzle. 

How often have the words contrivance and scam occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )