Document authenticity check — has this PDF been altered?

How altered documents give themselves away

A doctored PDF almost never matches its own internals. Editing a figure on a bank statement re-encodes the text object, substitutes a near-match font, or adds an incremental save that leaves the original value recoverable in the file. Re-printing to PDF to hide the edit changes the producer string and flattens structure the bank's generator would never produce.

The authenticity check reads these structural signals and reports each one with an explanation, so a lender, landlord, accountant or investigator can see why a file looks suspect rather than being handed an unexplained verdict.

Where it is used

Lenders and letting agents use it on submitted bank statements and payslips before affordability decisions. Accountants use it when a client's supporting document does not reconcile. Insurers and investigators use it on invoices and receipts attached to claims.

Where the result matters formally, pair the check with a chain-of-custody report so the file you examined is hash-sealed and timestamped.

Signals tested

• Incremental saves and revisions added after the original generation
• Font substitution and inconsistent text encoding within a line or column
• Page-level re-encoding, rasterisation or print-to-PDF flattening
• Producer and creator strings that do not match the claimed issuer
• Timestamp inconsistencies between the XMP packet and the document trailer

Frequently asked questions

Can you tell if a bank statement has been edited?

Often, yes. Bank PDFs are machine-generated with a consistent structure, so an edited figure typically leaves a font substitution, a re-encoded text object or an incremental save that the check flags with an explanation.

Does a flagged result prove fraud?

No. Legitimate processes — printing to PDF, combining pages, adding an e-signature — can also produce flags. The report explains each signal so a human can judge whether the explanation is innocent.

Can I check scanned documents?

Scanned images carry far fewer structural signals, so the check focuses on EXIF, resampling and compression artefacts. A native PDF from the issuer will always give a stronger result.

What happens to the documents I upload?

Every uploaded file is permanently deleted from DocumePro servers within 60 minutes under our Non-Persistence Guarantee. Nothing is retained for analytics, shared with third parties, or used to train AI models.