Payment check

How to spot a fake payment proof

When you sell something through a marketplace or a chat app, the message often arrives fast: a screenshot with your name, the right amount and a note that the payment has gone through. The money, however, never reaches your account. A screenshot is an image, not proof of payment — and with image generators and editing tools a convincing confirmation takes about a minute to produce (ESET Online Veilig, August 2026).

Direct answer: five checks before you ship or hand anything over

1. Check your own banking environment, not the image. Open your bank app or online banking yourself and confirm the amount was actually credited. A screenshot on its own is less reliable than a transaction reference, an original confirmation email or information you check directly in your own bank, booking or customer account (ESET Online Veilig, August 2026). Marketplaces such as Marktplaats advise staying inside the platform instead of moving to email or a chat app (Marktplaats, payment fraud).
2. Check the status, not the word success. A payment request or an initiated transfer is not a credit. Ask for the transaction reference and look it up in your own environment rather than requesting another picture.
3. Inspect the file and its source. Ask for the original confirmation email or an export from the banking app instead of a forwarded chat image. Ask yourself where the image came from: a screenshot can be cropped, edited or entirely generated (ESET Online Veilig).
4. Look for small inconsistencies. Fonts that shift mid-line, a missing or duplicated transaction reference, an account name that does not match the sender, an implausible balance, or amounts formatted differently from your own banking app. A single detail proves nothing; several deviations together justify pausing.
5. Do not let urgency decide. Pressure to hurry, a request to move the conversation off the platform, or a payment link to a private individual is the classic pattern. A one-cent payment request you are asked to approve is not a payment to you (Fraudehelpdesk).

What a detector can and cannot see

A payment proof is usually an image or a PDF. You can run the file through the image detector or the document detector to see whether it carries patterns common in generated or edited imagery. That is triage: it helps you decide which file to verify first. Edited imagery can score low, and a genuine screenshot can pick up a signal from compression. The result therefore says nothing about whether a payment was actually made.

What a payment proof cannot establish

• whether the amount was actually credited to your account;
• whether the sender is the account holder named in the confirmation;
• whether the transaction will later be reversed or recalled;
• whether fraud is involved — only a bank or an investigating authority can establish that.

Treat the payment proof as a prompt for your own verification, not as approval. The US Federal Trade Commission advises buyers to research the seller and the site and to pay with a method that carries legal protection (FTC, buying from an online marketplace).

If you already shipped or paid

• Contact your bank immediately and ask about a recall or block while that is still possible; speed determines the outcome.
• Keep everything: the payment proof, its file properties, the account, the chat, the listing URL and the timestamp.
• Report it to your national fraud reporting body and, where there is loss, file a police report.
• Report the account on the platform where you were trading, even if the listing is gone.

More on assessing this kind of evidence is in the guides on checking a fake invoice, checking product photos before buying and AI photos in a rental listing. If the message comes from a supposed collection agency instead of a buyer, use the five checks on a fake debt collection letter. If it is a friend or relative asking for emergency money, use the five checks on an AI voice clone scam. If the request instead arrives as a QR code, or as a code printed on a card or letter, use the five checks on a fake QR code. If a shop claims a return arrived damaged or incomplete, use the five checks on a suspicious return. To check the file alone, use the free checker.

Frequently asked questions

Is a screenshot proof of payment?

No. A screenshot is an image that can be created, cropped or generated. Only the credit appearing in your own banking environment counts.

Does a high detector score prove a payment proof is fake?

No. The score describes patterns in a file and says nothing about whether a payment was made. A low score does not prove a payment is genuine either.

May I upload somebody else's payment proof?

Only files you are permitted to use and that contain no other people's personal data. Remove account numbers and names where you can; when in doubt, rely on your own banking environment only.