How can you tell if someone is lying?

[dilettante]

For those of you normal enough to interact with real people, what are some signs that someone is lying? I'm not talking about white lies, but allegations against someone or events that didn't happen. I'm an extremely paranoid person and think everyone is out to get me so I assume that everyone is lying until what they say is proven true. Some signs for me is missing or unrealistic details, mismatch in timelines or information they've previously told me, if they're talking about someone I always consider if it would be realistic for that person to do/say the thing being alleged, lots of "um", "uh", "like" or other filler words, smiling (obvious) or overreacting.

tldr; stop talking to people

 

[WhoBusTank69]

If it's something you want to hear it's probably a lie.

 

[Tard Police]

Typically they rub their hands together like they're formulating an evil plot and mutter under their breath, "This faggot doesn't even know I'm lying"

 

[Niggernerd]

You beat them up until they admit they're liar liars and after you thank them and set their pants on fire.

 

[Medulseur]

LA Noire taught me that people's mouths look funny when they lie.

 

[Penis Drager]

If they say something that's not true, it's probably a lie.

More seriously: take note of who's making the allegation and who the allegation is levied against. There is no autistic "if [this que] then [is lie]" actually exists and some liars are better at it than others. Sniffing out bullshit is a skill, not a checklist. There are a few handy shorthands like "people who lie a lot are more likely to lie than those who don't" and "people with inflated egos will upsell their virtues while downplaying their shortcomings and do the inverse with others." But it's all a game of getting to know the guy in front of you and learning from past experience.
This is not to say there aren't more "technical" means of lie detection. But they're finicky at best. Polygraphs are not admissible in [US] court precisely because they're easy to cheat and nervousness for reasons other than deception can cause false negatives and positives. Another famous one is that the eyes tend to drift to the speaker's left when recalling something and to the right when constructing something. But this is easy as fuck to fake and many liars are premeditated (and so are trying to remember their story) and many truth tellers are trying to construct details that knit when parts of a stressful situation together in a cohesive way.

Your best bet is to pay attention to little details and catch them off-guard with a contradiction. Liars are usually going to try to address the contradiction as calmly as they can whereas someone telling the truth, but seemingly accused of a lie, is more likely to get hostile. This is imperfect but is commonly used in police interrogations (not as evidence, but as a means of knowing which strings to pull).

 

[Justanotherguy]

 

[Mr Bunny]

When their actions do not much their words.

 

[Penis Drager]

Okay... I gotta respond to this:
1. hand gestures
They do go into detail about the caveats here, but I just want to emphasize them here; The big thing here is the delay in gesturing. Gesturing alone is not, in any way, a sign of a lie. Get to know the guy standing in front of you to know their typical idiosyncrasies.
2. Fidgeting
That's a sign of distress. People accused of something they didn't do exhibit this all the fucking time. If you were accused of murdering a guy you never met, you'd be shaking in your fucking boots at interrogation. This is [almost] useless.
3. Eye contact.
It is normal to break eye contact periodically in even the most casual of conversations. This is literally useless. Making and breaking eye contact has absolutely fuckall to do with lying. Though it is somewhat right in saying that liars make an active effort to make the eye contact in the first place.
4. Tone of voice
Again: this is a stress thing. Depends on context blah blah blah.
5. repeating themselves
This is actually decent, but not great. Most people don't like to repeat themselves word-for-word and will rephrase when necessary. Liars are trying to stick to a script. I'll give this one a pass as long as the situation isn't super stressful or the guy in question is good at handling stress.
6. vague answers
That's perfectly valid. Someonw who is open with you will just tell you what's going on.
7. quickly ending the conversation.
That's not so much "liar" behavior as "I just don't want to talk about it. But yes, People who are lying will try to avoid the topic, especially if they don't have a coherent story to tell.
8. You sense something is off with them
This is good, but not applicable to autists. If someone's acting different around you than they usually do, something's usually up. As I said: get to know the guy standing in front of you.

Overall: 4/10. Half were just dumb and the other half have asterisks all over the place.
I will take my puzzle pieces with pride now.

 

[Exigent Circumcisions]

Equally important is knowing when it matters. I've met lots of people who I'm pretty sure are natural bullshit artists but I just take note of that and shrug it off unless they're trying to enlist my help, sell me something, etc. If something seems fishy and it matters enough, just start asking pointed questions and see where it goes.

Worst case scenario, they get upset and ask if you're accusing them of lying. I usually just shrug that off and tell them I'm just not getting it and need a little more information. If they don't like that, I change the subject.

 

[mr.moon1488]

That first one explains a lot.

 

[Jason Wynn]

Pretty obvious signs

If they preface what they’re saying with something like “honestly” “I’m gonna be honest here” “seriously” etc… they’re probably bullshitting.

If they over elaborate what they’re telling you, it’s most likely not the truth but a story they’re spinning

 

[Overcast]

Okay... I gotta respond to this:
1. hand gestures
They do go into detail about the caveats here, but I just want to emphasize them here; The big thing here is the delay in gesturing. Gesturing alone is not, in any way, a sign of a lie. Get to know the guy standing in front of you to know their typical idiosyncrasies.
2. Fidgeting
That's a sign of distress. People accused of something they didn't do exhibit this all the fucking time. If you were accused of murdering a guy you never met, you'd be shaking in your fucking boots at interrogation. This is [almost] useless.
3. Eye contact.
It is normal to break eye contact periodically in even the most casual of conversations. This is literally useless. Making and breaking eye contact has absolutely fuckall to do with lying. Though it is somewhat right in saying that liars make an active effort to make the eye contact in the first place.
4. Tone of voice
Again: this is a stress thing. Depends on context blah blah blah.
5. repeating themselves
This is actually decent, but not great. Most people don't like to repeat themselves word-for-word and will rephrase when necessary. Liars are trying to stick to a script. I'll give this one a pass as long as the situation isn't super stressful or the guy in question is good at handling stress.
6. vague answers
That's perfectly valid. Someonw who is open with you will just tell you what's going on.
7. quickly ending the conversation.
That's not so much "liar" behavior as "I just don't want to talk about it. But yes, People who are lying will try to avoid the topic, especially if they don't have a coherent story to tell.
8. You sense something is off with them
This is good, but not applicable to autists. If someone's acting different around you than they usually do, something's usually up. As I said: get to know the guy standing in front of you.

Overall: 4/10. Half were just dumb and the other half have asterisks all over the place.
I will take my puzzle pieces with pride now.

That channel has always been fairly useless when it comes to that sort of thing. Wouldn't be surprised if the channel creators were autists themselves.