Building on the sender-receiver game, this study develops a computational model of deceptive communication and empirically tests it using data from an online experiment. In the model, the success of deception is determined not only by the sender’s decision to send false signals but, more importantly, by the receiver’s willingness to accept those signals as true: that is, their trust in the sender. This trust is easily undermined by deceptive attempts but can also be strategically cultivated through consistent use of truthful signals (i.e., strategic honesty), which the sender may later exploit for deception. The findings reveal a paradoxical relationship between trust and deception, offering valuable insights into designing proactive strategies to counter online falsehoods.