# Detect tampered and deepfake Loan Payoff Statement > A payoff statement tells a title company the exact sum that closes a loan today, and where to send it. That instruction is the target. Payoff fraud rarely changes the amount; it changes the account the money goes to, in a letter that otherwise looks exactly like the lender's. The wire details are a few lines of text, and whether they were typed after the letter was generated is a question the file can answer. **Canonical URL:** https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/loan_payoff_statement **API document class:** `loan_payoff_statement` --- ## What a genuine loan payoff statement contains A payoff statement carries the lender's letterhead, the borrower and property, the loan number, and the date the figure is good through. It breaks the payoff into principal, accrued interest, and fees, gives a per-diem amount for each day beyond the date, and provides payment instructions, either a mailing address or wire details, with a contact for questions. The components must add to the total, and the per-diem should equal the outstanding principal times the rate over the year's days. The good-through date should be near the letter's date. Wire instructions should match the lender's known remittance details, which the PDF alone cannot prove, so the letter is normally also confirmed by a call to a number obtained independently. ## How loan payoff statement forgeries are made ### Wire instruction substitution The receiving account in a real payoff letter is swapped for the fraudster's. The rest of the letter stays genuine, so detection depends on the edited lines having been rendered separately from the letter around them. ### Payoff amount reduction The total is lowered to close a loan for less than is owed. The breakdown no longer sums, unless every component is rewritten, and the per-diem stops matching principal and rate. ### Good-through date extension A stale quote is made current by editing its date. The per-diem was calculated for a different day, so the figure is inconsistent with the dates it claims. ### Spoofed lender letter A payoff letter is built from a screenshot of the lender's branding, with a contact number that reaches the fraudster. Resampled logos and mismatched typography give the assembly away. ## What TamperCheck checks on a loan payoff statement TamperCheck runs 200+ forensic checks across three layers and returns a risk score from 0 to 100 with plain-English findings tied to specific regions of the document. These three carry the most weight on this document class. ### Arithmetic reconciliation Stated totals are recomputed from their components, and running or cumulative figures are checked for continuity across periods. A single edited value breaks the chain even when the page still looks right. ### Letterhead, logo, and issuer plausibility Issuer branding is checked for resolution and compression consistency against the body text it sits on. A logo lifted from a website carries the signature of its source, not of the document. ### Date and validity consistency Issue, expiry, and period dates are checked against one another and against the file's own creation metadata, which catches backdating and validity extension. ### And many more checks The three above are the layers that carry the most weight on a loan payoff statement. Every upload runs the full suite of 200+ checks regardless of document class, spanning file structure and metadata, pixel-level forensics, font and text rendering, optical and print characteristics, provenance signals, AI-generation signatures, and many more checks. ## Who verifies a loan payoff statement, and why Title and escrow companies, refinancing lenders, and closing attorneys. In each case the document is being used to unlock money, access, or a legal status, which is exactly what makes it worth forging. ## How to verify a loan payoff statement in 4 steps 1. **Check the fields against each other.** Read payoff amount, wire or payment instructions, and good-through date together rather than one at a time. Forgers typically change one value and leave the rest of the document describing the original. 2. **Inspect the file metadata.** Open the document properties and look at the producer, creation date, and modification date. A document produced by a consumer PDF editor, or created long after the date printed on its face, is worth a closer look. 3. **Ask for a second document.** Request a corroborating document from the same issuer or an adjacent period. Forgery effort concentrates on one file, so inconsistencies surface as soon as there are two to compare. 4. **Run a forensic check.** Manual review catches obvious edits but not field-level pixel manipulation or synthetic generation. TamperCheck runs 200+ forensic checks on a loan payoff statement and returns a risk score from 0 to 100 in about a minute, at $0.50 per document. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do title companies verify a payoff letter? By calling the lender at a number taken from an independent source, and by checking the letter's arithmetic. The amount breakdown must sum and the per-diem must fit the rate. Forensic review of the letter shows whether payment instructions were edited after it was issued. ### What is changed on a fake payoff statement? Usually the wire or payment instructions, since that redirects the funds. Less often the total, the good-through date, or the loan number. Because the letter is otherwise real, the edited lines are the only evidence. ### What is a per-diem on a payoff letter? It is the interest that accrues each day after the good-through date, added to the payoff if the money arrives late. Roughly, it is the outstanding principal times the interest rate divided by the days in the year, so it can be recomputed from the letter itself. ### Is a payoff statement the same as a loan closure certificate? No. A payoff statement quotes what must be paid to close the loan. A closure certificate is issued afterwards and confirms that it has been paid in full and the security released. ## Related document types - Loan Statement: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/loan_statement - Loan Sanction Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/loan_sanction_letter - Amortization Schedule: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/amortization_schedule - Loan Closure Certificate: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/loan_closure_certificate - Closing Disclosure: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/closing_disclosure - Settlement Statement: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/settlement_statement --- Try TamperCheck now: https://tampercheck.ai/dashboard · Docs: https://tampercheck.ai/docs · Pricing: https://tampercheck.ai/pricing