play a joke on vs flim-flam

play a joke on and flim-flam both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
play a joke on	No	No	Yes	No
flim-flam	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, play a joke on and flim-flam are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of play a joke on include fob, fox, play a trick on, play tricks, pull a fast one on, trick.

play a joke on (verb)	flim-flam (verb)
subject to a playful hoax or joke	deceive somebody
deceive somebody