Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a variety of petty crimes involving cash, passing counterfeit money, stealing from shops, giving short change.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: Rogues who, in changing money, by dexterity of hand frequently secrete two or three shillings out of the change of a guinea. This species of roguery is called the pinch, or pinching lay.
1812		Vaux Memoirs in McLachlan (1964) 82: Lest the reader should be unprovided with a cant dictionary, I shall briefly explain in succession: viz., pinching [...] Secreting small trinkets of value in a shop, while pretending to select and purchase something.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.