What document types does DocumentChecker handle?

Common ones include payslips, bank statements, ID documents, certificates and invoices, plus general PDFs and Word documents.

Can it tell me with certainty a document is fake?

It gives a confidence score and highlights specific concerns. For high-stakes decisions, treat it as a strong signal to investigate further, not as legal proof.

Do I need to know what the original should look like?

No. DocumentChecker has reference patterns for common document types so you don't need a known-good copy to hand.

Blog · DocumentChecker

How to quickly verify whether a document is genuine

9 June 2026 · 2 min read

Fake or altered documents are more common than most people assume — payslips inflated for a rental application, bank statements doctored for a loan, certificates that don't quite match the issuing body's format. You don't need forensic training to catch most of them, but you do need a method. Here's one that works.

Check the metadata

For PDFs, open the document properties and look at the author, creation tool, and modification date. A bank statement 'created' in a free PDF editor or modified after issue is a red flag. Originals from a bank usually have predictable creator strings.

Check the maths

On any statement with numbers — payslips, bank statements, invoices — add them up. Totals that don't reconcile are the single most common giveaway of tampering. Watch especially for round numbers that don't match itemised lines.

Compare against a known good

If you have access to a previous, verified document from the same source, compare layout, fonts, spacing and logo placement. Forgers usually get the headline right but miss small formatting conventions.

Font and font weight in headers
Spacing around the logo
Footer text and reference numbers
Page numbering format
Colour of accent lines and tables

Use DocumentChecker for a faster, more thorough pass

DocumentChecker runs the same kinds of checks automatically — metadata analysis, numeric reconciliation, format comparison against expected layouts — and produces a single confidence report. It's faster than doing it by eye and catches things humans miss, especially on documents you don't see often.

If you're making a decision based on a document — hiring, lending, renting, admitting — spend the 30 seconds to run it through DocumentChecker first. The downside of trusting a fake is almost always larger than the time to check.

Quick answers

What document types does DocumentChecker handle?: Common ones include payslips, bank statements, ID documents, certificates and invoices, plus general PDFs and Word documents.
Can it tell me with certainty a document is fake?: It gives a confidence score and highlights specific concerns. For high-stakes decisions, treat it as a strong signal to investigate further, not as legal proof.
Do I need to know what the original should look like?: No. DocumentChecker has reference patterns for common document types so you don't need a known-good copy to hand.