Back in the day, snake oil salesmen weren't seen as frauds (the actual health benefits of snake oil, or lack thereof, is another discussion). It wasn't until a

Back in the day, snake oil salesmen weren't seen as frauds (the actual health benefits of snake oil, or lack thereof, is another discussion). It wasn't until after 1916, when Stanley's Snake Oil was discovered to not actually contain any snake oil, that the term came to be associated with fraudulent selling.