Personal security

Former FBI agent of 21 years: These are the 8 biggest ‘warning signs’ that reveal a dishonest person

Every person has a tell. Your friends, co-workers, family members, partner and boss may actually be revealing their true intentions, but shrouding them in clever disguises.

As a retired FBI special agent and former chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, I spent 21 years defeating people whose sole intention was deception and trickery. Through years of trial and error, I recognized certain key patterns and learned how to “size people up” — or predict what others will do, and trust them accordingly.

Here are the biggest warning signs that reveal a dishonest person:
1. They speak in absolutes, such as ‘always’ and ‘never.’

Absolutes are meant to support a point of view, but they’re rarely true and can easily incite denial and opposition.

When someone says, “You never compliment me,” for example, they’re just begging you to say: “That’s ridiculous! I remember giving you compliments!” Even when you know that someone is just exaggerating, it can be hard to tell if they know it...