pull a fast one try to gain an unfair advantage by rapid action of some sort. informal
☞ This phrase was originally early-20th-century US slang and is also found as put over a fast one.
2012Bryan Caplan, Arnold Kling & David HendersonLibrary of Economics & Liberty The Chinese negotiator that got the British to take Hong Kong thought he'd pulled a fast one precisely because it was pretty much a barren island at the time.