As much as there are good people in this world that have the ability to restore one’s faith in humanity, there too, are people who will try to dupe you.

Despite your trusting nature, you don’t want anybody taking advantage of you. The problem is, some people are natural liars and consummate con artists.

But before you despair, here’s the good news: everybody’s got a tell.

They may not want to come clean about their true intentions so the following article is intended to point out some behaviors of shady individuals.

People who are neither honest or trustworthy usually display these 7 behaviors, often without realizing it.

1) They beat around the bush

Have you ever asked a person a question, listened to them talk–sometimes without interruption–and realized later that they never really answered it?

Well, that’s the case with dishonest and untrustworthy people. Such individuals speak in circles, dancing around the question.

Why? In an article for CNBC Make It, retired FBI special agent and ex-chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, Robin Dreeke says that people who lie are trying to hide something.

So, instead of providing anything of substance, they compensate with quantity, often spouting buzzwords that make it sound like they are actually talking sense.

Next time, try listening to the content of someone’s speech and determine if they’re just talking, or if they’re actually saying something of value. 

2) They show forced body language

Should you need more clues to figure out if someone can be trusted, you need not use just your ears, but your eyes as well.

When a person feels ill at ease, it shows.

Some body language that points to discomfort include:

• fake or forced smiles (these don’t reach the eyes)
• fidgeting or hiding of the hands; shrugging
• little to no facial expression
• grooming behaviors (e.g., playing with one’s hair).           

It’s important however, to note that these behaviors do not always mean that a person is lying.

In fact, according to psychologist Howard Ehrlichman, “shifty” eyes–that is, eyes that move around from point to point–are NOT a sign of lying. He found that such eye movements occur when people are accessing long-term memory.

In light of this, while you can detect lying with individual behaviors, those that are associated with lying are not great indicators. As such, it’s important to consider body language in conjunction with other signs of lying.

3) They speak as if following a script

If you are one of many who think that “um”s, “aah”s, and stutters–called filled pauses–were dead giveaways that someone is lying, get a load of this.

A study published in Applied Psycholinguistics revealed that “um” and “like” occurred less often when lying than when telling the truth. It suggested that “um” may be inaccurately thought of as a filled pause that indicates lying when it is used more frequently.

Think about it, when you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what to say and what not to say. You just know it.

But when you lie, you notice you tend to speak straight, almost as if you memorized what you were supposed to say. A liar will practice their answers so they can give them without a moment’s pause.

4) They can’t provide specific details

Another behavior of people who are neither honest or trustworthy is being unable to provide specific details about what is being asked of them. If they do, they provide vague information, at best.

As mentioned in the previous point, you don’t have to spend energy remembering or recalling things that actually happened.

Usually, when a person is lying, they have a hard time supplying specific details about their lie.

For instance, say a person is lying about having a boyfriend/girlfriend. They will have details like a name, and an age. But if asked what they look like, they will usually make up something on the spot, with not a lot of details to go with it.

The same may be true if asked how they met (“Oh, we just matched on Bumble”, “A friend of a friend introduced us”), what they like about their partner (“S/he’s funny, smart, and cool”), and things like that.

5) They explain events in exact chronological order

According to certain theories on lying, the act expends more mental resources, laying on what is known as “cognitive load” on the person doing it.

The human mind can only do so much. Lying adds on another layer of thought to the real version of events in order to make a lie believable. You have to make up a story, but also make sure that it aligns with known facts.

Then, you have to remember what details you invented so you don’t negate yourself.

As if that wasn’t enough, you also want to “look honest”, check if the person you’re speaking to is buying your story, and stay in character; all of these deplete your mental energy.

A study on the concept of cognitive load showed that it increased the accuracy in detecting lies. When asked to narrate the stories in reverse chronological order, this additional task made verbal and nonverbal cues more obvious.

6) They don’t keep promises

One of the building blocks of a good relationship with a relative, partner, or a friend, is the trust they cultivate.

Being vulnerable, sharing secrets, showing up for them when they need you (and vice versa) helps create trust between you and the other person. This in turn helps you grow closer to each other.

But what happens when that person betrays your confidence?

Untrustworthy individuals are unreliable. They tell other people your secrets, they say one thing and do another (or DON’T do it at all). It shows that their desire for other people’s favor is greater than their respect for you.

One good way to know if a person is untrustworthy is if they share things to you about other people. If they can do it to others, what makes you sure that they won’t do the same to you?

7) They don’t trust others

This might not be obvious to some, but it makes total sense.

Patti Wood, speaker, trainer, and body language expert, says: “It makes sense that someone who has no qualms about breaking their word and destroying trust cannot imagine that other people could be honest.”

She adds that they have a deep lack of confidence and suspect others of having bad behavior, even innocent ones.

“Like the man who accuses his wife of cheating because he is, or the boss who is afraid his employees will cheat him because he is cheating the company’s owner,” Wood explains.

Sometimes, what someone says of others is nothing more than a projection of their own faults and shortcomings.

Final thoughts

This list is in no way an exhaustive compilation of behaviors for dishonest or untrustworthy people. There are many other signs that such individuals show to the world, but these are some of the most common.