con game

con game (slang) - confidence game
- a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy a worthless property;
- a swindle in which the swindler, after gaining tha victim's confidence, robs the victim by cheating at a gambling game appropriating funds entrusted for investment, or the like. Also called i British English "con'fidence trick";
- any elaborate swindling operation in which advantage is taken of the confidence the victim reposes in the swindler. Some countries have created a statutory offence of this name, though the elements of the crime have never been clearly defined by legislation and the scope of proscribed behaviour remains subject to varying interpretations among jurisdictions.

Unlike most kinds of petty crimes, a con game, or confidence game, takes an enormous amount of skill and forethought to pull off. When done right, in many cases the grifters who perpetrate them have not actually done anything overtly illegal–they’ve simply used lies and manipulation to get their victim, or “mark,” to willingly hand over their own money.

going through the motions

to go through the motions - to make a feeble effort to do something; to do something insincerely or in cursory fashion; to do something because you are expected to do it and not because you want to; to do something without believing it is important

Jane isn't doing her best. She's just going through the motions.
Bill was supposed to be raking the yard, but he was just going through the motions.
These days when we go out, cook a meal together, or even make love, I get the feeling that he's just going through the motions.
After his wife died, he went through the motions of living, without feeling much of anything.

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