hoodwink
verb

- to deceive or trick someone

Cambridge Dictionary

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In the 16th century, "wink" meant to firmly close the eyes - not briefly close them and open them again, which is the modern definition of the word. To "hoodwink" someone was to literally blindfold them with a hood, often the sort used by executioners.

Hoodwinking was also a tactic of thieves, who would throw a hood over their victims' heads before robbing them. This literal sense of "hoodwinking" was joined in the 17th century by today's figurative sense of hoodwink, which is to blind someone by trickery or deceit in order to take advantage of them.

Hoodwink is a very subtle word - it means to influence by slyness, to conceal one's true motives from someone, especially by elaborately pretending good intentions so as to gain an end:

“He hoodwinked the investors into thinking that he could manage the company"

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SYNONYMS

bamboozle, con, deceive, betray, mislead, beguile, delude, dupe, trick,
double-cross, lead by the nose, play false, pull the wool over one's eyes, take for a ride, take to the cleaners

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today:

“Take care not to be HOODWINKED when shopping online."