How to Spot Lies and Fakes

Knowing how to separate fact from fiction is important to people of all ages, but especially to seniors. Since some aging adults are more susceptible, scammers often target seniors, using deception to steal their money. Retired adults with extra time on their hands can find themselves drawn into falsehoods that lead to poor health choices, decreased well-being, damaged social relationships, and harmful societal outcomes . Seniors Guide suggests ways for seniors to protect themselves as they spot lies and fakes.

What we once called “snake oil salesmen” have returned, in the form of scams, overhyped products, fake images, bots, conspiracies, dishonest politicians, AI-generated copy, and misleading media outlets. To make matters worse, consumers often share the misinformation, spreading it on social media quicker than any snake oil salesman ever could.

To keep from being fooled by scams or other falsehoods – or from foolishly sharing untruths with others – consider these tips to help you spot lies and fakes.

Five ways to spot lies

1. Be skeptical.

As digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield says , “Stop”!

As human beings, we’re quick to believe something that confirms our existing beliefs (called “confirmation bias”), but research shows that considering the new information helps guard us from accepting untruths.

Whether a new piece of information confirms or contradicts what you already know, be skeptical. Judge it, be open minded, and be willing to change your mind.

2. Go beyond the headlines

Headlines are often clickbait. They may not be written by an objective journalist but by someone wanting readers to engage with the story. They do this by catching your attention and by making you feel anger, surprise, or other strong emotion. Go beyond the headline and read the story. When you do, follow these wise practices.

• Check your biases. Are you reacting because of your own beliefs rather than out of sound judgment? Is your disagreement based on values rather than on dispute of facts?
• Ask, is it a joke? Satire like “The Onion” may base stories on real events, but they change the details for humorous effect, without pretending the story is factual.
• Follow the links. Do the supporting sources confirm the story? Was a quote taken out of context?
• Do the claims make sense? A little bit of logic, reason, and critical thinking can easily contradict a social media post or article.
• Speaking of experts, be sure the article uses people with expertise in the subject at hand .
• Does an individual or organization have financial ties or other elements that could influence their words? Are they trying to sell something?
• Is the content generated by AI? Artificial intelligence skims information from various sources, including the internet, without careful fact checking. AI-generated content is often repetitive, poorly structured, lacking specificity, and awkward. You can sometimes spot errors such as inconsistent use of pronouns.
• Know and look for logical fallacies. For example :

1. Post hoc or false cause: making inaccurate connections that A caused B
2. Ad populum: stating something is true because most people supposedly agree
3. Ad hominem: insulting or attacking the speaker or source, usually with an unrelated insult, instead of addressing the argument itself
4. Tu quoque: attacking the speaker or source for being hypocritical (a smoker who tells you not to smoke may be hypocritical, but their arguments against smoking are probably accurate!)
5. Red herring: diverting the argument from the real issue
6. False dichotomy: arguing that there are only two options when in reality there are others

3. Consider the source

With so many choices for news today, from cable news to radio shows and social media, how can we know which ones are objectively sharing facts rather than misinformation?

Ad Fontes Media is a top resource for knowing how fact-based and biased an outlet is. Ad Fontes rates media (individual shows and the overall outlets) on a continuum of reliability (facts vs. hearsay or untruths) and bias (left vs. right). The ratings are displayed on a chart and are searchable, making it easy to know if a source is offering objective truth.

“Many people don’t realize that other people read and watch completely different things than they do, and those different media outlets reinforce different beliefs and present different facts,” says Vanessa Otero, Ad Fontes founder and CEO.

For example, at the top of the chart for reliability and fact-based reporting while being neutral in bias are:

• “WSJ: The Journal” podcast covering money, business, and power
• The NPR News podcast
• “Stars and Stripes,” reporting on news important to the U.S. military community
• Pew Research Center

Sources that are less reliable and much more biased include:

• “All In with Chris Hayes” (significantly left leaning)
• “The Tony Michaels Podcast” (significantly left leaning)
• OAN TV network (significantly right leaning)
• “The Alex Jones Show” (significantly right leaning)

Also from Seniors Guide: To Protect Against Scams – Be Suspicious!

4. Look for experts to confirm or debunk

If you read something you’re skeptical of, look for other sources to confirm or contradict it.

• Wikipedia is actually a reliable source of encyclopedic information. It is regularly fact-checked, updated, and fact-checked again.
• For breaking news, do a web search to find other sources reporting on the issue, noting each source’s biases and objectivity.
• Go to fact-checking sites such as

1. Snopes.com
2. Politifact.com
3. FactCheck.org

5. Know how to spot fake images

Fake images are sprouting like weeds after the rain, thanks especially to artificial intelligence, and they can be hard to spot. AARP offers tips for knowing if an image is real or not , including:

• Conduct a reverse image search .
• Be suspicious of text on T-shirts, billboards, posters, hats and other blank canvases – they’re too easy to manipulate.
• Verify with reliable sources, especially the original. For example, in 2023, an image of soccer star Lionel Messi showed him holding a Palestinian flag. A duplicate image showed him holding an Israeli flag. However, a quick Google search reveals that the original image on his Instagram account in 2021 shows him holding a placard for Icons.com, a merchant of signed sports merchandise.
• Look for clues. AI images can be glossy. Doctored and AI photos may have impossible details, like the wrong number of fingers or toes, gibberish as text, and anachronistic objects.

Scammers and gimmicky merchants want our money, and political organizations want our vote. By knowing how to spot lies, you can make decisions based on fact, not fiction!

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