Former undercover agent for the CIA reveals how YOU can make yourself a more convincing LIAR – and shares the key signs that indicate if someone is being dishonest
A former CIA agent who served as an undercover spy for seven years has revealed the top signs someone is lying to you and how to get better at fabricating the truth.
Andrew Bustamante, 45, who served as a captain in the Air Force before becoming an intelligence officer, talked about his time at the Central Intelligence Agency in an episode of the podcast The diary of a CEOpresented by Steve Bartlett.
The ex-spy took advantage of his extensive training, learning how to become a skilled liar. This showed that the CIA only recruits people who already have a natural talent for being dishonest.
In the podcast, Andrew revealed how to become a better liar, while also sharing the signs that tell you if someone is trying to manipulate you.
Andrew Bustamante, 45, is a former CIA agent (pictured while working at the agency) who served as an undercover spy for seven years
He’s revealed the top signs someone is lying to you and how to get better at coming up with the truth
He opened up about his time at the Central Intelligence Agency on an episode of the podcast The Diary of a CEO, hosted by Steve Bartlett
Andrew started by explaining that you can’t really know if someone is lying until you know them long enough to establish a “baseline,” known as their normal behavior.
He added that in the CIA, getting to know one’s baseline was known as “spending time on target.”
When he envisioned being recruited into the agency, he said, “It starts with the basics of making sure people are recruited who are already liars.”
He then began discussing the most important details that can help you spot a bad liar.
Andrew first said that a person who is not good at dishonesty will open his mouth.
‘Bad liars talk a lot. Good liars talk a little, because the more you talk, the greater the risk of undermining your own lie,β he explained.
He also shared that good liars will try to shift the conversation to be about someone else, while bad liars will focus on themselves.
He added: ‘Bad liars make a lot of statements, good liars ask a lot of questions, because when you ask questions you’re not really telling anything about yourself. ‘
In the podcast, Andrew revealed how to become a better liar, while also sharing the signs that tell you if someone is trying to manipulate you
Andrew first said that a person who is not good at dishonesty will open his mouth
Andrew explained that if you’ve ever been in a social situation where there was someone who made you feel so interesting, but you didn’t know anything about him or her, you were talking to a very good liar.
In addition to speaking up, the former spy said bad liars can often be spotted by their body language.
He said, “A skilled liar knows how to appear as if he is telling the truth with his words and his body, while an unskilled liar often has a connection error and his body will give a different message than what his mouth is.”
Andrew noted that unskilled liars will have difficulty sitting still and shaking, as if they were sitting on a “hot seat.”
The former undercover spy also discussed the various stories spread on social media that are false.
He explained that many think that if someone moves their eyes while speaking, they are lying. However, this is not the case.
He said, “You can’t actually tell if someone is lying to you based on where they place their eyes.”
He noted that if you can talk to someone “through the lens of their ideology,” you can get them to do anything you want.
Elaborating on the habits of good liars, Andrew said that a skilled deceiver should not only sit still, ask questions and keep his lies short, but also be a reflection of the person he is trying to fool.
βThe first thing you do is imitate the person,β he said.
He explained that by mirroring the person you are lying to, they are more likely to believe and trust you.
The ex-CIA agent also discussed how to get anything you want from someone, adding that people have four basic motivations: “reward, ideology, compulsion and ego.”
He noted that if you can talk to someone “through the lens of their ideology,” you can get them to do anything you want.