How do I verify a payslip or salary slip is genuine?
Check that the net-pay arithmetic, pay dates and employer details are consistent, then look at how the file was produced. The most common forgery is a real payslip edited after it was issued — and that kind of edit usually leaves traces in the file that HTPBE? looks for.
What you can check yourself
- Gross pay, deductions and net pay add up.
- Pay period, pay date and any year-to-date figures are consistent with each other and with earlier payslips.
- The employer name, address and registration details match what you know.
- The layout matches other payslips from the same employer.
HTPBE? does not do any of this. It does not read the figures.
What HTPBE? checks
- Modified — the payslip PDF was changed after it was generated. Do not rely on it.
- Intact — no structural evidence of editing was found. It does not confirm the salary.
- Inconclusive — the file’s origin can’t vouch for it, for example because it was produced in consumer software that anyone could use to create a payslip from scratch. A real payroll system does not usually distribute payslips that way, so for a document that claims to come from an employer this result is itself a reason to ask for the original.
What no file check can confirm
That the employer exists, that the person works there, or that the salary is what the document says. That is the employer’s record to confirm, not the file’s. Ask for the payslip straight from the employer’s payroll portal, or confirm with the employer directly. See fake salary slip detection →
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3 answers
Basics & Scope
No. HTPBE? verifies one thing only: whether the file was edited or forged after it was issued. It does not confirm identity, does not check a document against the issuer’s records and does not judge whether the content is true.
How Detection Works
No. You don’t need a reference copy. Structural analysis reads the evidence already inside the file you were sent, so HTPBE? can return a verdict on a document you have never seen before and from a sender you can’t reach.
Verifying Specific Documents
The question has two halves. A tamper check shows whether the certificate PDF was edited after it was issued; whether the issuing body really awarded it only the issuer’s own records can answer. Use HTPBE? for the first and the issuer’s portal for the second.