{"id":48611,"date":"2026-06-25T16:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/?p=48611"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:54:08","slug":"6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Pay Stub Red Flags Landlords Should Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Have you ever questioned if a pay stub from a potential renter is actually authentic? Rental fraud is one of the biggest costs for landlords, with income misrepresentation ranking among the most common forms of application fraud<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that the growth of editing apps is making fraudulent documents appear to be legitimate. Luckily, there are indicators that warn landlords about possible issues with pay stubs before approving a lease. This article outlines six warning signs to look out for.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is a Legitimate Pay Stub?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The information included on a legitimate pay stub must accurately reflect the employee&#8217;s wages, taxes, deductions, employer details, and pay schedule. In many cases, pay stubs are generated using payroll software. However, the rise in technology has made it possible for many people to create convincing fake documents.<\/p>\n<p>Some online platforms allow users to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.formpros.com\/tax-forms\/create-paystub\/\"><u>make a pay stub<\/u><\/a> within minutes. It is important that landlords know what authentic payroll records should include and how to identify inconsistencies. Here are the red flags they must be able to spot.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Employer Details Not Matching<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>One of the easiest red flags to spot is inconsistent employer information. If there is an inconsistency in the employer\u2019s name and address, for example, this is a major red flag. The employer\u2019s information in the pay stub must match public records for that business. This includes<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The business name<\/li>\n<li>The address and website of the business<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0Contact information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the business cannot be found online, the contact information appears incomplete, or the address on the pay stub does not belong to the business, you need to investigate further.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Incorrect Year-to-Date Totals<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Year-to-date numbers are supposed to be a cumulative total (earnings and deductions) that have accrued to date for the calendar year. The reason phony pay stubs often have calculation errors is that those who create them are more concerned about how it looks than how it will calculate mathematically.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if an applicant receives the same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alamedaca.gov\/BUSINESS\/Starting-a-Business-in-Alameda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><u>salary<\/u><\/a> every pay period, the year-to-date earnings should closely correspond with the number of paychecks received so far that year.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Unusual Tax Rates for the Location<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Payroll taxes tend to have consistent patterns depending on both income and state guidelines. Individual tax situations may differ, but if you see withholding amounts that are extremely low or high, it could suggest that something is wrong.<\/p>\n<p>If a paystub does not show any standard payroll taxes or has withholding percentages that do not match the reported wages, then it is important to investigate the issue. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattlerentals.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><u>Landlords<\/u><\/a> do not need to be tax experts to determine when the numbers on the pay stub look unusual.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Varying Payment Frequencies<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Almost every employer has a regular payroll frequency, which may be weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly. A legitimate pay stub will usually reflect this regularity.<\/p>\n<p>If an employer\u2019s payday appears as though it has changed frequently, or if the pay periods overlap, the pay stub is likely not from an employer that uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/archive\/ca\/entry\/how-do-rental-scams-work_b_9219164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><u>a legitimate payroll system<\/u><\/a>. The best way to determine if there is an established payroll pattern is to review a number of consecutive pay stubs.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Common Formatting Issues and Fonts<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Commonly, fraudulent pay stubs may have subtle design flaws, which can usually be missed at first glance. They may include misaligned text, inconsistent spacing, or blurry logos.<\/p>\n<p>These are all indicators that a document has been edited. Enlarging a digital copy can help identify these flaws as well.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Missing Deductions or Payroll Info<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Most employees have deductions listed on their pay stubs, including taxes, retirement contributions, insurance premiums, or other withholdings. A pay stub reporting earnings with little or no information on deductions indicates a possibility of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Missing employee ID numbers, payroll reference numbers, and tax information are all signs of fraudulently generated payrolls.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Extra Verification Procedures<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Although a pay stub may look accurate, it should not be the only method to determine an applicant&#8217;s financial qualifications. If you wish to gain a true overall view of the applicant&#8217;s income, you may want to request current bank statements, employment verification letters, and multiple consecutive pay stubs.<\/p>\n<p>It is also important to verify the applicant&#8217;s employment through sources that are not included in the rental application. Consider using independently-obtained contact information. These additional methods can greatly lower the chance of approving an applicant based on false or inaccurate information.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Trust, but Verify<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Pay stubs are an important screening tool. However, each one should be reviewed carefully. The signs listed above are red flags that should prompt you to pause and do some investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing these frequent problems and using other verification methods in addition to pay stub can make a big difference. Combining several verification methods helps landlords and property managers make more educated decisions when leasing property. They can lower their risk of being victims of rental fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever questioned if a pay stub from a potential renter is actually authentic? Rental fraud is one of the biggest costs for landlords, with income misrepresentation ranking among the most common forms of application fraud The problem is that the growth of editing apps is making fraudulent documents appear to be legitimate. Luckily, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/F7I__hvens_3ZqmF-oLTbg\/f2944e47-e02b-4fb1-ccbc-9fd183cd5300\/public","fifu_image_alt":"Photo by Ivan S on Pexels"},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.1.2 (Yoast SEO v20.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Pay Stub Red Flags Landlords Should Spot - Ezilon Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the 6 key pay stub red flags every landlord should spot when screening tenants. From inconsistent income and suspicious employer details to altered documents and mismatched information, discover how to identify fake or unreliable pay stubs so you can reduce risk and choose trustworthy renters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Pay Stub Red Flags Landlords Should Spot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever questioned if a pay stub from a potential renter is actually authentic? Rental fraud is one of the biggest costs for landlords, with income\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ezilon Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T16:54:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/F7I__hvens_3ZqmF-oLTbg\/f2944e47-e02b-4fb1-ccbc-9fd183cd5300\/public\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ezmanix\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/imagedelivery.net\/F7I__hvens_3ZqmF-oLTbg\/f2944e47-e02b-4fb1-ccbc-9fd183cd5300\/public\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ezilon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ezilon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ezmanix\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ezmanix\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/#\/schema\/person\/d6b05ad5346f7dd750abf77a19db7148\"},\"headline\":\"6 Pay Stub Red Flags Landlords Should Spot\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T16:54:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-25T16:54:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\"},\"wordCount\":815,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Real Estate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/6-pay-stub-red-flags-landlords-should-spot\/\",\"name\":\"6 Pay Stub Red Flags Landlords Should Spot - Ezilon Articles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T16:54:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-25T16:54:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn the 6 key pay stub red flags every landlord should spot when screening tenants. 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