How to tell if a bank statement or payslip has been edited

Practical checks for landlords, employers and lenders: the arithmetic, the fonts, what's hidden in the PDF's properties, and what to do if a document looks edited.

By Memento · Updated 8 October 2026 · 4 min read

Editing a PDF is easy now. A free online editor can change an amount, a name or a date in a couple of minutes, and the result often looks fine at a glance. If you rent out a flat, hire people, lend money or sell anything expensive, sooner or later someone will send you a document that isn't what it claims to be.

The good news is that edits leave traces. None of the checks below proves anything on its own, but together they tell you whether a document deserves a closer look.

Start with how you received it

A screenshot, a phone photo of a printout or a PDF that was "printed to PDF" has already lost most of the evidence. Ask for the statement exactly as it was downloaded from online banking. If the person can't or won't send that, it's worth asking why.

Even better is getting it from the source. Many banks will send a stamped statement or a balance letter on request, and some can confirm details directly with the person's consent. A short call to the employer's HR department settles a payslip in a minute.

Check the arithmetic

This catches a surprising number of edits, because changing one figure means changing every figure that depends on it, and people forget.

Opening balance, plus money in, minus money out, should equal the closing balance.
If the statement has a running balance column, check a few rows in the middle, not just the first and last.
On a payslip, gross pay minus each deduction should equal net pay, and the year-to-date totals should grow by about one month's pay from one payslip to the next.
Look at the salary credit. Does the amount on the statement match the net pay on the payslip, and does it arrive on a sensible day each month?

Look closely at the page

Zoom in to 200% or more. Edited text tends to sit slightly differently from the original:

Fonts. A changed number is often in a font that's almost, but not quite, the same: the 1 has a different foot, or the 7 a different angle.
Alignment. Numbers in a column should line up on the decimal point. One amount sitting a pixel higher, lower or further left is a classic sign.
Spacing and weight. Inserted text can look slightly bolder, lighter or more tightly spaced than its neighbours.
Background. On scans and photos, a patch that's cleaner or a slightly different white than the paper around it suggests something was covered and retyped.
Details that should match. Account number format, sort code or branch, statement period, page numbers ("page 2 of 3") and the address should all agree with each other and with what you know.

Look inside the PDF

A PDF carries information you can't see on the page. Open it in a PDF reader and look at the document properties (in most readers: File, then Properties).

Producer and creator. Statements generated by a bank usually name a reporting or document system. Names like iLovePDF, Smallpdf, Sejda, PDFescape, Canva, Microsoft Word or an image editor mean the file passed through software people use to make or change documents.
Dates. Compare the creation date with the modified date. A statement created at the bank on the 1st and modified two weeks later was opened and saved again somewhere.
Fonts. The fonts tab lists every font in the file. A bank statement usually uses one or two families. An extra font that only appears in a handful of characters is worth finding on the page.
Saves. PDFs can be saved "incrementally", with each change added to the end of the file. A statement saved several times after it was created has been through more hands than a bank's system.

Our document tamper check reads all of this for you, and marks text in an odd font in red on the page itself. It runs in your browser, so you're not uploading someone's bank details anywhere.

Try it: Document tamper checkSpot signs that a PDF or photo was edited: later saves, editing software, odd fonts and retouched areas.

Photos and scans

When you only have a photo, there's less to go on. Two things still help. The photo's hidden details (EXIF) may name editing software such as Photoshop, or show it was saved again long after it was taken. And error level analysis, which re-saves the image and shows where it changes most, can make a pasted-in number or name stand out from the rest of the page. Treat it as a hint: edges and sharp text always glow a little.

Innocent explanations

Before drawing conclusions, remember that genuine documents get these marks too:

Filling in or signing a PDF form adds a save and sometimes a new font.
Merging several statements into one file, or compressing it to email it, changes the producer.
Some banks really do generate statements with tools that add later saves, and some staff do save letters from Word.
A statement printed and scanned at an office has no useful PDF details at all.

Treat a warning as a reason to verify, not as proof of fraud.

If something doesn't add up

Don't accuse anyone on the strength of a font or a date. Ask for the document again, sent directly from the bank or employer, or for a short letter confirming the figure that matters to you. A genuine applicant will usually arrange that quickly. If the explanations get complicated, or the new copy shows different numbers, you have your answer.

For larger sums (a loan, a tenancy deposit, a vehicle sale) it's reasonable to make direct verification a standard step for everyone. Then nobody feels singled out.