Income
Fake Pay Stub: Definition & Example
What Is a Fake Pay Stub?
A fake pay stub is a fabricated or altered earnings statement used to misrepresent income, often made with online pay stub generators or by editing a real stub.
What does fake pay stub mean?
Fake pay stubs range from fully invented documents for employers that do not exist to real stubs with the pay rate or hours changed. Online generators make producing a professional-looking stub cheap and fast.
Common warning signs include math that does not add up, YTD totals that do not match the pay date, round numbers, missing or incorrect tax withholdings, misspelled employer names, fonts that change mid-document, and an employer that cannot be found or reached.
Submitting falsified income documents to get a lease or loan can be fraud. Many landlords add a second source of evidence, such as calling the employer through a publicly listed number or reviewing bank deposit history, instead of relying on pay stubs alone.
Fake pay stub example
An applicant submits stubs showing $4,800 gross per biweekly check. The YTD total on the April stub is $38,400, which would take eight checks, but only seven biweekly paydays have passed. The employer’s phone number goes to a personal voicemail. The manager asks for another form of income documentation.
Related terms
- Pay StubA pay stub is a document that accompanies a paycheck and itemizes the employee’s gross pay, taxes, deductions, and net pay for the pay period and year to date.
- Document TamperingDocument tampering is altering a genuine document, such as a pay stub, bank statement, or ID, to change key details like income, balances, names, or dates.
- Year-to-Date EarningsYear-to-date (YTD) earnings are the total gross pay an employee has received from January 1 of the current year through the most recent pay date, as shown on a pay stub.
- Verification of EmploymentVerification of employment (VOE) is the process of confirming with an employer, or a database of payroll records, that a person works there, along with details like job title, start date, and sometimes pay.
- Proof of IncomeProof of income is documentation showing how much money a person earns, such as pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, an employer letter, or a benefits statement.
Fake pay stub FAQ
- How can landlords tell if a pay stub is fake?
- Check the math, YTD totals, tax withholdings, and employer details, contact the employer independently, and compare the stub with deposits or other records.
