How to spot a fake receipt

Last updated: 2026-07-09

Receipts are the small change of document fraud: individually minor, collectively expensive. Expense claims, refund requests, warranty claims and marketplace disputes all lean on receipts — and because each one is worth little, almost nobody checks them. That asymmetry is exactly what makes them worth faking at scale.

Where fake receipts do damage

Expense fraud: fabricated or inflated receipts slipped into reimbursement claims, a few at a time.
Refund and warranty fraud: a doctored proof of purchase for goods bought elsewhere, second-hand or never.
Marketplace disputes: edited payment or delivery receipts used to win a claim against a seller or platform.

1. Verify the merchant and the tax ID

A real receipt names a real business. Check the merchant exists at the stated address and that the tax or company ID on the receipt is valid in the official register — most countries offer a free lookup. Generators love plausible-sounding but unregistered merchants, and a dead tax ID ends the conversation.

2. Recompute the math, including tax

Line items must sum to the subtotal, tax must equal the subtotal times the actual rate for that category and country, and the total must close the loop. Edited receipts routinely change one number and forget the others; generated receipts often apply a wrong or flat tax rate. Five minutes with a calculator catches both.

3. Read the metadata on PDF receipts

An e-receipt or e-invoice is produced by the merchant's point-of-sale or billing system, and its Producer field says so. A PDF receipt made in Word, Canva or an online generator announces itself in the metadata — and a modification date after the purchase date means the file was edited afterwards. The free PDF metadata checker shows both in seconds.

4. Inspect fonts, spacing and alignment

Thermal-printer receipts use one monospaced font with fixed column positions; e-receipts use the merchant's consistent template. An amount that sits a pixel off its column, a date in a subtly different weight, or digit shapes that differ from their neighbours betray a pasted-in edit — zoom in and compare character by character.

5. Ask for the original, not a photo

A photo or screenshot of a receipt carries no metadata and no edit history — it is the forger's preferred format. For any claim that matters, ask for the original e-receipt file or a duplicate issued by the merchant. A claimant who can produce neither is telling you something.

6. Cross-check the claim, then the file

Does the purchase fit the story — date, place, plausibility against the card statement or the trip being expensed? When the claim survives that and the amount justifies it, verify the file forensically: edit layers, template fingerprints and structure reveal what a clean surface hides. Accountants and AP teams dealing with volume should see our guide for finance teams; for supplier invoices specifically, see spotting a fake invoice.

Frequently asked questions.

Where do fake receipts usually show up?

Three places above all: expense claims padded with fabricated or inflated receipts, refund and warranty fraud against retailers, and marketplace disputes where a doctored proof of purchase or delivery backs a claim. The pattern is the same — small amounts, high volume, low scrutiny.

How can I tell if a receipt is fake?

Verify the merchant exists and the tax ID is real, recompute the math including tax rates, and — for PDF receipts — read the metadata: an e-receipt comes from the merchant's system, not from Word or a receipt generator. Fonts that change between the amount and the rest of the receipt are a classic edit trace.

Are online receipt generators legal?

The tools themselves are marketed for invoicing or replacing lost receipts, but submitting a generated receipt as proof of a purchase that never happened is fraud. For a verifier the origin matters more than the legality: generator output carries recognisable template and metadata patterns.