Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) that member of a confidence trickery team who jostles, and thus attracts the attention of the victim.

1914

W. Sickert New Age 19 Mar. 631: His band of ‘wraughters’ or ‘rorters’ (there are two opinions about the spelling of this word).

2. (Aus.) a professional fraudster or confidence trickster.

1895		Mirror of Life 27 July 14/2: And in a low, smooth Walter Joyce / Did to the rorter say: / ‘I’ll have ten blow on Hook or Crook,’ / And no brief took away .
1901		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Oct. 1/1: The premises of a well-known Beaufort street boot maker are mainly occupied by a gang of gamblers [and] the proprietor of this Rorters’ Retreat allows his family to occasionally command the ‘kip’.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 17 Apr. 1/1: Four of Perth's best known rorters were lugged out of lavatories.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 June 3rd sect. 12/8: As soon as Harney opened his forensic mouth, up jumped the ‘dead-willing wroughter’ and interrupted him.
1924		E.G. Murphy Dryblower’s Verses 93: He’d been a race course wroughter In the years that yester dwell.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 61: Rorter, a professional sharper: a hawker of worthless goods: one who practises sly dodges to obtain money.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 138: We are [...] originators of the following terms for various sharpers, tricksters and others who live by their wits: [...] lurk man, nineteener, piker, rorter [...] and amsterdam.
1962		A. Marshall This is Grass 159: Rorters like Flogger prepared to fleece any man who stood staring around him [AND].
1975		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 44: One of the old rorters up the Cross tugged me coat a week ago. His mail was that if I didn’t weigh in soon I’d be gathered for sure, but, shit, I didn’t expect I’d get dished up like this just on a lousy dud.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 10: He meat pied. He had no intention of having his coat tugged by what could by [sic] a rift or rorters.
1986		R.G. Barrett Real Thing 173: L.A. Dave was another pot-dealer and rorter.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 133: Clueing her up to the rorts and rorters.
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] Catch today’s pollies doing that [i.e. paying for personal expenses] Rorters and shicers to a man.

3. (Aus.) someone who engages in a form of fraudulent manipulation.

1981

National Times (Sydney) 6 Dec. 18/3: On balance the Right — because they have much more experience and also happen to run the party’s head office — are more accomplished rorters [AND].