How to spot a fake pay stub
Fake stubs usually get the net pay right and something else wrong. Here is where to look.Fake pay stubs usually get one thing right, the net pay, and something else wrong. Here is where to look.
Check the math
Gross pay minus every deduction must equal net pay, in the current column and in the year-to-date column. When someone raises the pay on a stub, they often change the gross and the net but leave a deduction or a total behind.
The year-to-date column can never be lower than the current period, and it should be close to the current pay times the number of paychecks so far this year.
Check Social Security and Medicare
The employee pays 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare on the same wages, so the two should agree with each other. Medicare has no cap, but employers withhold an extra 0.9% on wages over $200,000 in a year.
Social Security stops at the yearly wage base: $184,500 of earnings in 2026, according to the IRS. Year-to-date Social Security above 6.2% of that, $11,439, can't be right.
Check dates and details
- The pay date should fall on or after the end of the pay period. If it's a weekend or a bank holiday, compare it with the day the deposit reached the bank account.
- The employer's EIN, if shown, is nine digits in the format 12-3456789.
- State income tax should match where the employee lives and works; nine states have no state income tax on wages.
- Rounded amounts, like exactly $2,000.00 net every period with hourly pay, are worth a second look.
Check the file
A PDF records which program created it and whether it was saved again later. A stub downloaded from a payroll portal comes from the payroll system; a file saved again in a general-purpose PDF editor, or made by an online stub generator, is worth asking about. Merging or compressing files can explain an edit, so treat it as a reason to ask for the original.
Confirm with the employer and the bank
Ask the applicant to download the same stub again from their payroll portal while you watch, check that the net pay arrives in their bank statement within a day or two of the pay date, and call the employer on the number from its official website to confirm the pay for that date. Apply the same steps to every applicant.