Upon reading this, I categorized it with "Towards a progressive hermeneutics of quantum gravity" in the deception department (though not in the 'should have been easily caught' department) - the lie was temporary, used as a delicate test of someone else's honesty, and has probably earned you an enemy and gotten a bunch of other people to trust you less.

Speaking of which, it would be best if you could avoid gratuitous deception (like, if you do something like the volunteer experiment, use the data in all cases but neglect to inform half the cohort).