In the world of insurance, some of the questions around a claimoften involve determining whether or not a claimant is beingentirely truthful about what happened, what was lost or the truevalue of the items involved in the loss.

At the recent RIMS annual conference and exhibition in SanDiego, Calif., Pamela Meyer, founder and chief executive officer ofCalibrate,a Washington, D.C.-based company that provides deception detectiontraining for businesses, highlighted some behaviors that couldindicated an insured is being less than truthful.

“We're not in the business of being 100% honest,” she explainedas she described how Henry Oberlander, one of the world’s mostsuccessful fraudsters, was able to defraud so many victims.

Oberlander believed that “everyone is willing to give somethingfor whatever it is they desire the most,” and this makes themvulnerable in a fraudulent situation.

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

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

What are we hungry for?

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

Research has found that people lie more to strangers than totheir co-workers, that extroverts lie more and persist more intheir lies than introverts, and powerful people lie more than theless powerful.

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

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

She explained that the more intelligent a species is, the morelikely 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 inevery five interactions,” she added.

In the workplace, the numbers are even more astounding. Meyersaid that people lie in 37% of their phone calls, in 27% of theirface-to-face interactions, in 21% of their instant message chatsand 14% of their e-mails. She also stated that people are lesslikely to lie in writing.

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

In studies of employees who were caught in a fraud, most aremore likely to be stealing intellectual property, 36% are livingbeyond their means, 27% are experiencing financial difficulties,19% admitted to being too close to the vendors they work with, and14% 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 detectingdeception, and training can make a difference in improving thatskill. She outlined a number of verbal and non-verbal indicators towatch for while conducting an interview.

Listen carefully to what a subject may or may not say. Verbaldodges that indicate an individual is not being truthful mayinclude:

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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 tellingyou the truth, honest!”
  • Religious references.
  • Inappropriate tenses in speech using past and presenttense in the same sentence.
  • Euphemisms.
  • Denying in a very prescribed way.
  • Specific denials.
  • Non-contracted denial e.g., “I did not” vs. “Ididn’t.”

When trying to determine if people are lying, she recommendslooking 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 statementssuch as “I'd love to tell you but ...” or “That's a ridiculousquestion to ask.” Some liars will try to change the focus withdetour statements like, “Well the announcement stated ...” Otherswill minimize the issue and say, “It’s no big deal … .”

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

Another key to whether or not someone is lying can involve theactual structure of the story. Liars have a tendency to frontloadtheir stories with truthful details. Meyer calls this the prologue,then the details become lighter, the main event might have someappropriate detail and they may end with an emotional epilogue orthey rush to the end of their story, providing little to noadditional information.

Meyer explained that 80% of communication is nonverbal, so it’simportant to have a view of a person’s body in order to tell if heor she is lying. “You can tell largely by the tone of their voiceand you want to be able to find a fake smile. Passive-aggressivepeople will fake smile. A real smile can be seen in the eyes,” sheadded.

Some body language that could indicate a person is lyingincludes:

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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 orderto determine whether he or she is lying later on in theconversation. This involves talking to someone for a few minutes tosee what their norm is so you can see the changes for the harderquestions.

When determining someone’s baseline, look for thesedeterminers:

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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 notbaselining them. It is also possible to experience first impressionbias, which can really affect your ability to assess someone.Positive bias actions may include: smiling, being glib orconfident, or how attractive someone is. It may also be easier todismiss condemning data because of these traits.

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

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Building a rapport with someone allows you to baseline theirbehaviors 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 peoplewhen interviewing them. “It's never about lavishing praise onsomeone, it's about a point of connection and finding a way toconnect with them. Often it's the little things that create arapport.”

To build rapport she recommended looking at body language,speech patterns and excitement levels. However, she warned that itis easy for someone you're working with to create a false rapport.She recommended giving them psychological bridges and entering intotheir delirium. “Throw these things out like you’re on a fishingtrip only you’re fishing for information. Say something like‘I'm overworked’ or ‘I'm underpaid.’ Once you create thepsychological bridge, you'll get the person to open up and talk toyou 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 arealso an excellent indicator of how honest an invidual is being atthat moment in time. (Photo: iStock)

The eyes have it

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

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

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

The keys to determining whether or not someone is lying involveunderstanding 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 youreyes or minimize what they are experiencing. If the person has beenwronged, he will be very angry and you will be able to see it inhis body language and hear it in his voice.

When speaking to someone over the phone, Meyer suggestedengaging with the person when he or she has enough time to talk andnot reaching out just before lunch or at the end of the day. Shealso advised investigators to use a person’s name to keep him orher engaged, and to use the speaker phone strategically. “You canstart on a speaker phone and then take it off of speaker as a wayto lean into the person.”

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

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

Related: 10 outrageous frauds that failed