Ideally yes and I play that game as long as I can, but eventually it often comes down to a direct "What is your current salary" question.

Responding with "I'm looking for $X-$Y" often isn't an acceptable answer and they continue pushing for current salary.

I've noticed it much more in the last 2-3 years, where they absolutely will not continue the process without a current salary, which is when I resort to that made up number.

What exactly could they do to determine you are lying?

Nothing :) but many people think "oh what if they know someone on the HR of my current company and they call them up and ask them and they tell them????".

IANAL but in California that sounds like grounds for a lawsuit or even criminal prosecution. (Assuming you found out about it, of course.)

See https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio.... It's pretty clear.

Is that even legal? Most companies have a "yes, that person worked here" policy.

> "yes, that person worked here"

2 reasons to do this:

1) In many (I assume all) countries companies run background checks. When I claim that I have worked for 10 years as role-XYZ in company-ABC, they need to somehow verify this claim. The (closed) question is "Did Henry Bemis worked as role-XYZ in your company for 10y?" And the answer is either Yes/No (or a very slight variation of the asnwer, to clarify the role title (due to traslation or interpretation issues)(i.e. asking in English language for a role in Italy).

2) In Europe (were we get a good number of vacation days) the "next" employer will need some form of verification for your years of work, as the number of vacation days increase depending on the number of years you worked. Different ranges for different countries. Although the "next employer" does have a copy of your CV and can add the years, they should have the assurance that "total of 10 years" is actual "10 years".