6 Ways to Tell If Someone Is Lying on the Phone

Telling a lie is hard work, and often you can hear the effort. Are they telling you the truth? Many people believe you can make a pretty good judgment call when you are face to face with someone, picking up on body language and small physical tells. Some popular advice even claims a person is being dishonest if they look up to the right as they speak, though that idea has been challenged and may depend on whether the speaker is right-handed. People can also train themselves out of any habit once they become aware of it.

Even if some of this is true, it will not help you on a phone call when you cannot see the person you are talking to. So are there audio cues that can help? Here are six suggestions that might be useful when you are trying to read a caller you cannot see.

1. Throat clearing

Telling a lie is hard work for most of us, and it can cause real physical changes. The stress of an untruthful response can trigger a near-instant rerouting of moisture to the skin. It is an evolutionary throwback from our fight-or-flight days, when sensing danger meant we might need to run, and perspiration kept us cool as we did.

The moisture usually present in the throat can suddenly disappear for that reason if the speaker is not a skillful liar. They will often have to clear their throat before they can get the lie past their lips. The same may hold true if you can actually hear someone's hard swallow before they respond.

2. Convoluted responses

Direct questions usually get answers that are just as concise. You may have a legitimate reason to be doubtful if someone on the phone gives a response that sounds more like an attempt to convince you than an actual answer to your question.

This possibility increases if they follow up with defensive language, such as, "What did you mean by asking me that?" or, "I am not really concerned if my answer isn't what you wanted to hear."

3. Ums and wells

Some people sprinkle their responses with "um" or "you know." Far fewer people lean on the word "Well" with that same frequency, especially as a way to preface a response.

This can stand out when you ask a question that only needs a yes or no answer. If the reply instead starts with "Well..." and there is a noticeable pause afterward, it is often a cue that the speaker wants to prepare you for an answer that differs from what you expect. Fabricating an acceptable answer takes a moment, and a few seconds can be bought with filler words. That said, the person could simply be working toward a complex answer, so treat it as one signal among many.

4. Information overload

People who tell lies often try to make them sound more convincing by piling on unnecessary detail or complicated responses that have little to do with the question being asked. It is an attempt at persuasion built on the misguided belief that a long answer removes suspicion.

5. Unexpected compliments

Flattery, as the saying goes, will get you everywhere, including out of being caught in a lie. People who avoid the truth sometimes discover that something as simple as an unexpected compliment can derail a conversation.

You are fortunate when someone tries this tactic, because it tends to be obvious. A compliment offered in place of an actual answer will feel out of place and leave you wondering what it has to do with anything, unless you fall for the flattery and forget that you never got your answer.

6. Hostility

People who lie successfully develop strategies to confuse you or change the subject, and few distractions work better than unexpected hostility. Amiability is the default mode for most of us, so we tend to lose our train of thought when we run into an angry or hostile response to a simple question.

Move the conversation to video when it matters

There are clear physical signs of lying, but they do not help you in a voice-only conversation. They do help, though, when you can move to a video call. On screen you can watch for things like jaw manipulation, emphatic gestures, a backward head movement, or someone touching the base of their neck. These are stronger indications that a person may be less than honest.

Video calling is no longer a luxury reserved for big companies. It is a standard part of a modern cloud business phone system, and VoIP often costs around 30 percent less than legacy service, so face-to-face communication is within reach for any team. There is no need for new hardware or add-on costs to get started.

If reading callers is a regular part of your day, the right tools take some of the pressure off. The CallSprout AI Voice Agent answers and transcribes every call, so you get an accurate written record you can review word for word instead of relying on memory or a gut feeling in the moment. It can also route calls based on your CRM so the right person handles each conversation, all on a 99.999 percent uptime network. For more on getting the most out of business calls, see our guide on how to develop an effective call script.

Want to see how it works for your team? Book a demo and we will walk you through it.