とも question

[killerinsidee]

I have a question about this sentence (2nd one). The speaker of those sentences is the same.
I'm wondering what とも in this sentence means.
First I thought that it might be the "literary version" of ても, but that needs to be connected to a volitional form or なく (or なかろう) forms. I'm thinking it's just a quoting と (not actually quoting what anyone said) + も to add emphasis (on the situation that someone wasn't aware of, i.e., being deceived without even realizing it). I don't think it's a conditional here, it kind of reminds me of とも used in some set phrases like 勝るとも劣らぬ.
I would appreciate any help with this.
Edit: Maybe it's the 1st usage from here - とも［連語］の意味 - 国語辞書 - goo辞書 ?
Emphasizing と (not the conditional)?

Thanks.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yeah, that's the emphasized と for quotation, as in the dictionary.

A conditional とも can be used with the passive of 騙す, but it's more common to use the classical form 騙さる, not the modern one 騙される, for that case since とも is also classical.
e.g.
騙さるとも騙さず（＝ (例え自分が）騙されるとしても（他人を）騙さない）