Fraud prior to bid? (9)
I believe the answer is:
pretender
'fraud' is the definition.
('pretender' can be a synonym of 'fraud')
'prior to bid?' is the wordplay.
'prior to' becomes 'pre' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bid?' becomes 'tender' ('tender' can be a synonym of 'bid').
'pre'+'tender'='PRETENDER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pretender that I've seen before include "Claimant, like Bonnie Prince Charlie" , "One who claims a title or position" , "One acting" , "One claiming a title" , "fake" .)