“If you're hungry for money, you’re much more likely to fall for a get rich scam,” explained Meyer. The same holds true for those who are looking for love. “You are much more like likely to fall for the wrong person.” She said that lying is a cooperative act and its power emerges when someone else agrees to believe a lie.

Even children learn to lie at a very early age just to see who will respond and how. (Photo: iStock)

What are we hungry for?

“We wish we were better,” said Meyer, “and lying is an attempt to bridge that gap and that hunger is something that can drive you forward or into the ground if you don't know what you're hungry for.”

Research has found that people lie more to strangers than to their co-workers, that extroverts lie more and persist more in their lies than introverts, and powerful people lie more than the less powerful.

Men lie more to boost themselves up in front of others and women usually lie to protect others.

When it comes to married couples, they lie to each other in one out of every 10 interactions. Unmarried people lie in one in every five interactions. “We're against lying in general, but we covertly do it in ways our society approves of when we tell stories all of the time,” said Meyer.

She explained that the more intelligent a species is, the more likely they are to lie. “Babies will fake a cry to see who comes. Five-year-olds will lie outright, and college kids lie in one in every five interactions,” she added.

In the workplace, the numbers are even more astounding. Meyer said that people lie in 37% of their phone calls, in 27% of their face-to-face interactions, in 21% of their instant message chats and 14% of their e-mails. She also stated that people are less likely to lie in writing.

When doing an investigation, she recommended insurance professionals go to original sources because they are more likely to get to the truth of the matter.

In studies of employees who were caught in a fraud, most are more likely to be stealing intellectual property, 36% are living beyond their means, 27% are experiencing financial difficulties, 19% admitted to being too close to the vendors they work with, and 14% had control issues.

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Watch for verbal and nonverbal cues when someone is talking. They often say more than their actual words. (Photo: iStock)

What aren’t you saying?

Meyer said that humans are no better than apes at detecting deception, and training can make a difference in improving that skill. She outlined a number of verbal and non-verbal indicators to watch for while conducting an interview.

Listen carefully to what a subject may or may not say. Verbal dodges that indicate an individual is not being truthful may include:

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  • The use of more formal language.
  • Qualifying language to narrow the field of denial.
  • Over-emphasizing truthfulness e.g., “I’m telling you the truth, honest!”
  • Religious references.
  • Inappropriate tenses in speech using past and present tense in the same sentence.
  • Euphemisms.
  • Denying in a very prescribed way.
  • Specific denials.
  • Non-contracted denial e.g., “I did not” vs. “I didn’t.”

When trying to determine if people are lying, she recommends looking at how they denied it. Did they word it very specifically? Are the facts their friend and do they confirm their story?

She also encouraged investigators to look at protest statements such as “I'd love to tell you but ...” or “That's a ridiculous question to ask.” Some liars will try to change the focus with detour statements like, “Well the announcement stated ...” Others will minimize the issue and say, “It’s no big deal … .”

If someone becomes defensive, Meyer said it is important to get them out of that mode because they are unlikely to share more information. When someone speaks illogically, she said it is possible to weave with their faulty logic and get them to answer more questions.

Another key to whether or not someone is lying can involve the actual structure of the story. Liars have a tendency to frontload their stories with truthful details. Meyer calls this the prologue, then the details become lighter, the main event might have some appropriate detail and they may end with an emotional epilogue or they rush to the end of their story, providing little to no additional information.

Meyer explained that 80% of communication is nonverbal, so it’s important to have a view of a person’s body in order to tell if he or she is lying. “You can tell largely by the tone of their voice and you want to be able to find a fake smile. Passive-aggressive people will fake smile. A real smile can be seen in the eyes,” she added.

Some body language that could indicate a person is lying includes:

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  • Lip smacking.
  • Grooming gestures.
  • Hand wringing.
  • Excessive sweating.
  • Closed eyes.
  • Slumped posture.
  • Lowered voice.

It is important to create a baseline of an individual in order to determine whether he or she is lying later on in the conversation. This involves talking to someone for a few minutes to see what their norm is so you can see the changes for the harder questions.

When determining someone’s baseline, look for these determiners:

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  • Blink rate.
  • Fidget patterns.
  • Posture.
  • Hand and leg gestures.
  • Voice.
  • Laugh.

Meyer said it is possible to read a person incorrectly by not baselining them. It is also possible to experience first impression bias, which can really affect your ability to assess someone. Positive bias actions may include: smiling, being glib or confident, or how attractive someone is. It may also be easier to dismiss condemning data because of these traits.

If there is a negative bias with an individual, the interviewer may be more likely to ignore any positive data about the person, ask loaded questions, amplify any existing weaknesses or even stop listening altogether. “Make sure to pursue facts and not people,” cautioned Meyer.

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Building a rapport with someone allows you to baseline their behaviors and determine later if they are being honest or not. (Photo: iStock)

Getting to know you

Meyer stressed the value of developing a rapport with people when interviewing them. “It's never about lavishing praise on someone, it's about a point of connection and finding a way to connect with them. Often it's the little things that create a rapport.”

To build rapport she recommended looking at body language, speech patterns and excitement levels. However, she warned that it is easy for someone you're working with to create a false rapport. She recommended giving them psychological bridges and entering into their delirium. “Throw these things out like you’re on a fishing trip only you’re fishing for information. Say something like ‘I'm overworked’ or ‘I'm underpaid.’ Once you create the psychological bridge, you'll get the person to open up and talk to you more.”

Good questions to ask to get people to open up include:

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  • What's the pettiest thing that's bothering you?
  • How can I be useful to you?
  • Is there anything else you want to tell me?
  • Are there any words of wisdom you would like to give me?

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The eyes may be the key to a person's soul, but they are also an excellent indicator of how honest an invidual is being at that moment in time. (Photo: iStock)

The eyes have it

Meyer said there are seven emotions you can see in someone’s face – happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, fear, disgust and contempt and that the eyes and eyelids can help determine whether or not a person is lying.

She said that sneers are highly associated with deception and to watch a person’s mouth and eyes.

“Look at the facial expressions while they're are describing something. Horrific expressions should match what they're saying,” she added.

The keys to determining whether or not someone is lying involve understanding the lie of deception, baselining their responses, developing a rapport with the person, possibly entering their “delirium” and looking for verbal and non-verbal indicators.

She said when people are emotional, be careful not to roll your eyes or minimize what they are experiencing. If the person has been wronged, he will be very angry and you will be able to see it in his body language and hear it in his voice.

When speaking to someone over the phone, Meyer suggested engaging with the person when he or she has enough time to talk and not reaching out just before lunch or at the end of the day. She also advised investigators to use a person’s name to keep him or her engaged, and to use the speaker phone strategically. “You can start on a speaker phone and then take it off of speaker as a way to lean into the person.”

Signs of voice deception over the phone could include a person who pauses inappropriately, speaks more slowly or lowers his or her voice. Meyer said there is a lot of research on voice tone and cadence that can be used to help flag individuals who aren’t being truthful.

Despite the advances in today’s technology and the fact that many insureds prefer communicating through e-mail, texts and portals, as Meyer illustrated, there is still quite a lot that can be learned through an old-fashioned, face-to-face conversation.

Related: 10 outrageous frauds that failed