10 Giveaways That Someone Is Lying To You

Do you think your employees, bosses and clients are always honest with you?

Unfortunately, they probably aren’t.

Their lies may not be on the scale of Richard Nixon or Bernie Madoff. But it’s likely they tell some tall tales and share a few little white lies.

“On any given day you may be lied to anywhere from 10 to 200 times,” says Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception. “And strangers lie three times in the first 10 minutes of meeting each other.”

Of course, in Finance, it’s critical to work with true facts and figures. So avoiding lies is important.

Why are They Lying?

Why do people lie so much? In simple terms, they are bridging the gap of who we really are and who we want to be, says Meyer.

For instance, people want to be the perfect boss, employee or client, but they aren’t. So they tell lies to make them appear to be.

So now you need to determine who’s being honest and who’s not. To do that, pay close attention to these 10 signs of lying and examples from Meyer:

1. Eye Contact to the Extreme

You’ve probably heard that people who lie won’t look you in the eye, but that’s only half the story.

Experts say liars either make too little or too much eye contact.

If you’re with someone who won’t make eye contact, be wary. On the other hand, if that person is staring you down, you’re probably getting a tall tale.

2. Too Many Details

Liars are extremely generous with details. They try to con you by overloading you with details.

They have likely put a lot of thought into what they’re going to say and might have rehearsed it in their head.

People who lie also use convoluted sentence structure and qualifying language when giving you the details, like “to tell you the truth” or “I can say categorically.”

Honest people give more succinct answers because they’re telling the truth and they don’t have to think about it. They know the facts.

This quote from former President Richard Nixon hits the nail on the head when it comes to oversharing:

“I can say categorically that his investigation indicates that no one on the White House staff, no one in this administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident [the Watergate burglary]. What really hurts in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong. What really hurts is if you try to cover it up.”

3. Too Simple of Explanations

While people who are lying overshare details, they tend to explain things in simple terms. Why?

People usually can’t easily build a complex lie. Why? Judgement and evaluation are complex things for the brain to compute. So liars have to keep it simple so they can repeat it if necessary.

4. Formal Language

When people lie, they tend to use formal language. They forgo “didn’t” for “did not” and “I’m” for “I am.” Doing this emphasizes a point they want you to believe.

Take, for example, former President Bill Clinton’s quote, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Nixon’s quote is similar: “I was not lying. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue.”

5. Using the 3rd Person

In an attempt to distance themselves from the lie they’re about to tell, fibbers avoid referring to themselves in their deceptive statement.

They tend to talk more about others, often using the third-person point of view to disassociate from their lie.

For example, here’s what Lance Armstrong said when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs: “Ok, you know, a guy […] in a Parisian laboratory opens up your sample, you know Jean Francis so and so, and he tests it […] And then you get a phone call from a newspaper that says we found you to be positive six times for EPO.”

But when he finally admitted to doping, he said: “All the fault and all the blame here falls on me. I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times. I made my decisions. They are my mistakes, and I am sitting here today to acknowledge that and to say I’m sorry for that.”

6. The Story Only Works 1 Way

Sure, people who lie give you a lot of details. But ask them to repeat their story in a different order, and they’ll often freeze.

They need to tell their story in the order they memorized it. They can’t tell it backward.

So if you are in doubt about someone’s honesty, ask them an unexpected question about something that happened in the middle of the story.

Then immediately ask another question about something from the beginning. It catches them off guard, and they’ll have to think long and hard about it.

7. Negative Tones

Experts say when people lie, they tend to be more negative because they subconsciously feel guilty about lying.

An employee might say, “Sorry I’m late, but that stupid bus was late again. I hate riding it!” instead of “Sorry I’m late, my bus was running behind.”

Sometimes, their guilt from lying comes out in anger.

8. They Fake a Smile

Watch people’s faces when they smile. Is their whole face involved? Do they get crow’s feet when they smile? Do their cheeks raise up?

If yes, then you’re hearing the truth.

If they smile with just their mouth and nothing else moves, you’re more than likely being lied to. That’s because most people can’t fake a smile.

The timing in a fake smile will be wrong. It’ll be held too long, or will be blended with other things — such as a combination of an angry face with a smile.

9. Repeating Questions

Repeating the question is a stalling tactic to give them time to come up with a believable tale.

For instance, if you sit down with employee A and ask, “Did you take credit for employee B’s work?” and employee A answers, “Did I take credit for employee B’s work? No, I did not.”

They’re probably lying.

10. Contradictions

A liar will contradict him- or herself.

The contradictions can be between a gesture and the voice, a gesture and words, the voice and words, the face and words, or actions and words. And it’s all controlled subconsciously.

For example, someone who’s being dishonest could say, “It was Jenny’s responsibility to finish the books this quarter,” and subconsciously give a slight “no” head shake at the same time.

Or someone who’s usually very animated and a fast talker, is now sitting with her arms folded and speaking slowly. That’s another indication that the person is embellishing the truth.