skimmingnoun [ U ]
uk/ˈskɪmɪŋ/usIT the practice of stealing someone's credit card details using electronic equipment, in order to use their account illegally:
Cash machines at several garages throughout London were fitted with skimming devices.
FINANCE, TAX the practice of stealing money from an account, budget, etc. over a period of time in amounts that cannot be easily noticed:
The director's skimming of the charity's profits landed him in jail for a decade.
also market-skimming pricing MARKETING the practice of charging a high price for a new product in order to make as much profit as possible before other similar products become available and prices fall:
A slow skimming policy is where the product carries a high price with a low level of promotion.