Before renting an apartment, a landlord must verify the tenant’s income details. A pay stub is a way of confirming and verifying the income status of an individual. But many people create fake paychecks and provide them to the landlord as legal documents.
Making fake documents by using various websites is possible, and it is hard to recognize them. Every landlord looks for a tenant who can give rent on time. Therefore, it is necessary to determine whether the pay stub is fake or not. It is quite a complicated task, and you must check the document thoroughly to determine the difference.
You must know everything about scams that may happen due to this fake document. The following write-up will discuss various ways to tell real from fake pay stubs. The following tips are quite helpful to know the difference, and you can stay safe from scams.
1. Swapping of Numbers with Letters
The common and easiest way to know whether the tenant has submitted the fake document is by checking the swap of numbers with letters. Generally, zeros are swapped by the ‘O’ letter. If you are in a hurry, you will check everything quickly, and it is hard to spot any difference. Sometimes, it is hard to detect this issue in different fonts.
Generally, many companies use official fonts for such documents. If no official font is used, then also it can be a scam. You need to check letters in a word thoroughly. Swapping of numbers with letters is quite common and easy to detect. You can check the difference in various fake paystubs.
2. Lack of Consistency in the Information
The entire information mentioned in this document should be consistent. The explanation is official and valid. You must check the name of the person with the correct spelling. The income details should be well-mentioned, like net pay, PF, medical insurance, gross salary, etc. Everything should be calculated correctly.
If you find any incorrect math, it can be a fake document. You should also check the address of the company and person. You can also verify it by yourself. If you are unable to understand the presented income document, you can ask for another as proof. It is necessary to verify the income before you provide your apartment on rent to the tenant.
3. Incorrect Numbers
You can see incorrect numbers in the salary amount in fake pay stubs. A company must deduct some amount for taxes; hence, it mentions round figures in the salary slip. But in the case of fake documents, you can see numbers in the form of decimals. It is quite an incorrect way of presenting the information. It is hard for the reader to understand the pay stub.
If you think the income document you get from the tenant is complicated to understand, then you must not trust him. Before you rent your apartment to him, make sure you verify all his income details carefully. It is necessary to check the pay stub because it is the only way to know whether the tenant can pay the rent monthly or not.
4. Messy Information in the Document
A company always shares salary information in the paycheck in such a way that it is easy to read and understand. But what if the information mentioned looks messy? You have to read the data thoroughly and look out for some common issues. The problem can be with the alignment, unnecessary gaps between words, printing issues, wrong text, incorrect spellings, blurry details, odd typefaces, etc.
Overall, the design and the text will look unprofessional, and you cannot rely on such a messy document. Many chances are there that it can be fake, and you must not consider it while renting your apartment to the tenant.
5. Fake Image
Nowadays, many people prefer to send soft copies of pay stubs via email. Whenever you receive the digital copy, you need to check it thoroughly. There are many chances of manipulating the image that your tenant can make to fool you. You must check the image’s metadata using various applications like Adobe Photoshop.
You can easily detect the manipulations done to the image data. There are fewer chances to detect any fake stubs by using this method. But it is better to analyze the image information also. Your mind will be at peace if you find everything about the image data.
6. No Match with the Bank Statements
The information you receive about the tenant’s income by the pay stub must match with the bank statements. If you have any doubt about the paycheck, then it is better to ask for other income proofs. The best thing to verify the document is the bank statements.
If all the information matches with the passbook, you can get the relief that your tenant is telling the truth about his income. You can rely on him and provide your apartment to him for rent. In the bank statements, you can see consistent income status correctly along with expenses.
You can easily decide whether you should allow the tenant to live on your property, and you will get monthly rent on time. Make sure that your tenant agrees to share the bank statement with you. Generally, the possibility of getting a bank statement as proof is high by your trustworthy tenant.
Final Thoughts
Providing pay stubs is the best way to verify the landlord’s income status. Every legal company provides an official salary slip, in which all your income details are well-mentioned. If you want to provide your apartment for rent to the tenant, you need to check this document thoroughly.
You must not hurry while checking the legal pay stub; otherwise, you will regret it later. All the mentioned tips are good enough to spot the real paycheck by differentiating it from the fake one. You can follow all the tips and be careful while renting your property to any tenant.
