Payment receipt verification

Last updated: 2026-08-18

A payment receipt is the document people trust fastest and check least. It arrives as proof that money moved, the goods ship or the keys change hands, and by the time the transfer turns out never to have happened, the other side is unreachable. Verifying a receipt means asking whether this file came out of a bank and stayed untouched — not whether it looks convincing.

Why receipts are the easiest document to forge

A bank statement is pages of transactions with a running balance that has to reconcile. A receipt is one page with an amount, a date, two names and a reference number. There is nothing to keep consistent, so a forger changes a single field and the page still holds together — because there was never anything to add up. The evidence of the edit is not on the page at all. It is in the file structure underneath it.

How we check a receipt

• Metadata and software fingerprints: whether the file came out of a bank system, or passed through an editor after it was issued.
• Edit layers: incremental saves, replaced objects and text pasted over the original content — the usual signature of a changed amount.
• Fonts and layout: a substituted figure rarely matches the original typeface, weight and baseline, however close it looks at a glance.
• Cross-checks: the IBAN checksum, the dates, and any amount written in words are reconciled against the figures on the page.
• Digital signatures: whether the receipt is signed at all, whether the signature covers the whole file, and whether it still holds after the last save.

Screenshots and app confirmations

Most disputes start with the weakest artefact there is: a screenshot from a banking app. A screenshot proves only that someone rendered those pixels. It has no metadata, no edit history and no signature, and image editors leave far less trace than PDF editors do. If the other side can send a PDF, ask for it. If they will only send an image, treat the transfer as unconfirmed until the money actually lands in the account.

Who checks receipts with us

Self-serve or API

What you receive

A structured report: an overall verdict with a risk score, every signal that fired together with the evidence behind it, and the metadata record — enough to attach to a dispute, an order file or an audit trail. If the receipt is clean, the report states which checks it passed and what those checks can and cannot prove. Risk indicators, not a verdict on the person who sent it.