When choosing renters for your property, you want to make sure you screen potential renters to verify that they are trustworthy — and that they will actually be able to pay their rent on time. To do so, you will likely ask potential renters to submit proof of their income with a pay stub as part of their application to rent. Simple, right?
Unfortunately, it’s easier than you think for people to produce and submit fake pay stubs. Many online companies exist that let customers create fake pay stubs through an incredibly inexpensive and easy process. However, you can take a few steps to spot fake pay stubs. It comes down to the details when screening potential renters.
Look for Professionalism
A real pay stub will look neat and professional. After all, true pay stubs come from accountants and human resources departments. Specific details to keep your eye on include:
- Clear appearance: A real pay stub will appear completely legible and will not be blurry at all. Anyone should have the ability to easily decipher this kind of document.
- Even alignment: Lines, characters, and numbers should all line up evenly. Likewise, decimals should align properly. Accounting software automatically lines up digits and decimals, so when things do not line up, that’s a signal that something isn’t right.
- Font type: Accounting and human resources departments will not use unusual or fancy fonts to create this important document.
- Spelling: Misspelled words offer another clue that you have a fake pay stub.
Check 0’s and O’s
What may seem like a minute detail actually offers a revealing insight into the validity of a pay stub. You will want to look carefully to check if you can make out a difference between the number zero (“0”) and the capital letter (“O”).
Zeroes should appear as slightly taller, oval-shaped figures. The capital letter O appears more rounded in most common fonts.
A professional accountant would never mix up a capital letter “O” with the figure “0.” If you catch that mistake and cannot tell the difference between the two on the pay stub you have received, it offers a good indication that the document you have is a fake.
Stay Wary of Rounded Numbers
Actual paychecks rarely come out with a rounded number, so if you see that on the pay stub your potential renter submits, you have another red flag. Extra dollars and cents almost always appear on pay stubs. Think back to your own paychecks: Did you ever get a perfectly rounded number? Probably not!
That means you will want to look through the pay stubs submitted to see the actual figures that appear on the stub. Monthly earning should not round to the nearest hundred or thousand. In other words, a pay stub is much more likely to list net pay as $1,297.04 than $1,300.00. A perfectly rounded pay stub gets you another sign you may have a fake on your hands.
Double-Check Basic Information
Basic information should always appear on the pay stub. Missing basic information signals that you may have a counterfeit document. However, you will also want to double-check to ensure that all basic information that does appear remains consistent.
Most pay stubs will include an applicant’s:
- Name
- Address
- Company information
The document should also show:
- Gross pay
- Taxes
- Insurance deductions
As with other official documents, pay stubs typically list some or all of this information in more than one spot. Check for inconsistencies in different places on the document, as this can offer another red flag that you have a pay stub that the applicant generated online.
Check the Math
Though this may sound like a tedious suggestion, checking the math on the pay stubs you receive can go a long way. You can calculate earnings and deductions on a pay stub (or ask your accountant for help with this step). If you uncover miscalculations or see a figure that does not make sense, that could mean you have a fake pay stub.
Use Other Methods To Verify Income
You will not always have the ability to figure out if you have fake pay stubs or real ones, unfortunately. That’s where using other methods to verify income comes in handy. Even if you cannot spot one or more of the above issues with a pay stub, requesting other verification along with pay stubs can help you make sure you have accurate information when assessing a potential renter’s application.
Some other verification steps you can take include:
- Asking for bank statements: By checking an applicant’s bank statements, you can see if the potential renter has deposits matching what they have listed for their income. Deposits may also include the name of the company that employs your potential renter, which should match the information they have submitted to you.
- Requesting a W-2 form: While people can still create counterfeit W-2 forms, it’s a lot harder to get a fake W-2 than it is to get fake pay stubs. Employers create W-2s to verify income more accurately, and an applicant’s W-2 form will include information like earnings as well as taxes and deductions to help you gauge if your potential renter will pay their rent on schedule.
- Requesting a Form 4506: You can request this form from the IRS to see a transcript of your potential renter’s federal tax record.
- Calling an employer: You can figure out if a potential renter was honest about their place of employment by calling the employer. Some, though not all, may also verify how much that person makes. However, you will need to stay wary of the phone number your applicant provided — a dishonest applicant could list a friend’s number to pretend to be an HR employee or supervisor. Do a bit of extra research to find the correct contact information for a company’s human resources department.
Knowing these tricks for spotting fake pay stubs will help you make sure you have honest renters who will pay rent and other fees on time.
Related content
