ringing the changes
ringing the changes. Fraud consisting in the offender’s using a large bill to pay for a small purchase, waiting for the shopkeeper to put change on the counter, and then, by a series of maneuvers involving changes of mind — such as asking for some other article of little value or for smaller change for some of the money on the counter — creating a confused situation in which the offender picks up much more of the money than is really due. [Cases: Larceny 14(1). C.J.S. Larceny §§ 1(4), 20, 32.]