A newspaper in Boston Massachusetts said the word came from a criminal whose name was Bogazy.
The newspaper said Bogazy wrote checks to people, although he did not have enough money in the bank.
After he wrote the checks, he would flee from town. So people who were paid with his checks received nothing.
The newspaper said Americans shortened and changed to the criminal's name Bogazy to bogus.
People try to earn money also must be aware of being ripped off. A person who is ripped off has had something stolen or at least has been treated very unfairly.
A writer for the magazine American Speech said he first saw the expression used in 1971.
It was on a sign that a student carried during a protest demonstration at a university.
The message on the sign was that the student felt ripped off or cheated.
