I hear ya but the cost of being distrusting is overall much higher than the cost of being trusting. If somebody tells me they're sick, today's their anniversary or they invented chewing gum I'll just go with it that they did. If it's a lie then it's on them and if they get their rocks off on making me look stupid then so be it. Surely not the first time that happened. Some folks need to always feel like the smartest guy in the room whatever room they're in and spend great effort to create this appearance.
There was a guy some years back on a football board I was on who had created a pretty fantastical background--he was former and some time present military, had worked with george clinton, had been on a recruitment trip in my town for whcih he dropped just enough insider info to sound credible--who was eventually busted by a fellow board member who was a Colonel in the army (allegedly

) who had been duped by him about coming through Germany where he was stationed. The guy afterward reached out to me via PM and asked whether I took him to be who he said he was. I just told him something like, why not, that it was never too late to have a happy childhood. Point being....it really had no effect on me either way in the real world.
Either way the story goes I hope the best for FF because either way he has some problems I'm glad I don't have. By the way, did I mention that I'm actually Henry Aaron and I am recovering nicely from my broken hip?