blw_truth_and_falsehoodThe two best ways to identify lying are, first, understand and appreciate that it occurs frequently. Raising awareness and recognizing the threat is critical. Second, embrace training that will help you recognize warning signs, and then employ detection techniques when you review, prepare and question!

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once asserted that “the lie is a condition of life.” Unfortunately, there is a huge body of information that supports this viewpoint. People lie often and for all kinds of reasons.  Some studies advocate that men lie three times more than women while other data supports the opposite. What does it matter who ls the more frequent lier? All of the statistical information confirms that lying is rampant!

Men and women lie for different reasons:

  1. Men lie to win an argument, to get ahead in a job or to gain money.
  2. Australian lie detection expert Steve Van Aperen has found that men tell “easy, basic and general lies that don’t take a lot of processing, and their lies are easier to understand and detect since their responses are more literal. 
  3. Mr. Aperen posits that women lie most frequently to avoid hurting someone else’s feelings. Their lies are more elaborate and contain more information relating to timing and detail.

Lying can relate to some type of fraudulent behavior; here are some fast facts;

  1. Many personal untruths have been categorized as “Sweet Little Lies” such as, “I’m late because I got stuck in traffic.”
  2. Depending on whose conclusions you believe, resume’ fraud occurs at some level on 25-35% of all submissions. 
  3. People frequently lie or inflate the truth on insurance claims. They justify their behavior by saying to themselves, “everybody else does it…”
  4. The 2016 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Annual Global Fraud Report concluded that, “Most fraudsters do not undertake their schemes expecting they will get caught…they typically know that they are risking their careers, reputations, and freedom by engaging in such misconduct.”

This is sobering information; however, it is useful to understand the basis for and the reasoning behind lying.  That knowledge along with a practiced interviewing skillset will position you to identify the lie when it surfaces.

Research North, Inc. (RNI), is a professional private detective service providing support to the business community, the insurance industry and individuals in Michigan and Wisconsin since 1981. The company also offers pre-employment background checks to small and medium sized businesses through a subsidiary called Backgroundcheckswork.com that is fully staffed by professional investigators who are retired from law enforcement.

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