How to check whether a payment slip is real
A slip is an image, and images can be made. Sellers on Facebook and Line, market stalls and anybody doing business by transfer run into the same three tricks: an edited amount, a slip from an older transfer sent again, and a slip that was genuinely paid to somebody else. All three are caught by the same habit, which is not to look harder at the picture.
Look at your account, not at the image
This is the whole guide in one line. The sender's screenshot tells you what the sender wants you to believe; your balance tells you what happened. Every other check is a shortcut for when you cannot look.
For a business that means the rule is about sequence: confirm, then hand over. The cost of waiting thirty seconds is nothing, and it is the only defence that works against every version of the trick at once.
The three usual tricks
The edited slip. An amount or a name changed in a photo editor. It often shows: a font that does not match, spacing that is slightly off, a number aligned differently from the rest. It often does not show at all, which is why appearance is a weak test.
The reused slip. A real slip from a real transfer, sent again for a second purchase. Nothing about the image is wrong, because nothing about it was faked. The giveaway is the reference number or the timestamp appearing twice, which only helps if you keep the slips you have accepted.
The wrong receiver. A genuine transfer, genuinely made, to somebody else. The slip is perfect; it simply is not about you. This is why reading the receiver line matters as much as reading the amount.
What to check, in order
Account first. If the money is there, the slip is irrelevant. If you cannot check right now, then: the receiver line, the amount, the date and time, and whether that reference number has been used on you before.
If anything is off, ask for the reference number and say you will confirm. Somebody paying honestly will shrug; somebody who is not will suddenly be in a hurry, which is itself an answer.
Making it automatic
Checks that depend on remembering do not survive a busy day. What survives is a record: every accepted slip filed against the thing it paid for, so a duplicate stands out because the first one is already there.
That is what SlipDee does with the slips in your phone. Each one is read and filed against the bill it settles, nothing is uploaded until you tap it, and a slip that tries to settle a second share is refused rather than quietly accepted.
Checklist
- Check your account or statement before handing anything over.
- Read the receiver line and confirm it is your account.
- Compare the amount with what was owed, decimal point included.
- Check the date and time against now.
- Keep reference numbers of accepted slips, so a reused one is visible.
- If something is off, ask for the reference and confirm before delivering.
Make your own PromptPay QR
Your code with your photo on it, so friends can see who they are paying. Free, in the browser, and it works with every Thai bank.
Open SlipDeeFrequently asked questions
Is there an official way to verify a slip?
- Banks can trace a transfer by its reference, and verification services exist for businesses. For one-off sales the practical answer stays the same: look at your own account.
Can a slip be faked well enough to fool me?
- Yes. That is the premise of this guide. Appearance is the weakest check, which is why the sequence is confirm first, deliver second.
What if the buyer refuses to wait?
- Treat it as information. An instant transfer takes seconds; the only reason to object to a thirty-second check is that there is nothing to find.
How do I spot a reused slip?
- By having the old one. The reference number and the timestamp are unique to a transfer, so a record of what you have accepted turns a reuse into an obvious collision.
Does a slip with a QR code prove more?
- Only if the reference behind it is actually looked up. The presence of a QR code is not a guarantee, it is a pointer.
