# Detect tampered and deepfake Permit > A fake permit shows itself in its dates and its scope, because a permit is a deliberately narrow authorisation: one holder, one described piece of work, one site, one window of validity. That narrowness is what gets edited, with the scope broadened to cover work nobody approved or the validity pushed beyond the date the authority set. Insurers and contracting parties usually read permits after something has gone wrong, which is exactly when a widened scope turns into a declined claim. **Canonical URL:** https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/permit **API document class:** `permit` **Last updated:** 2026-10-07 --- ## What a genuine permit contains A permit identifies the issuing authority, the permit number in that authority's format, the permit type, and the holder or applicant, then fixes the work to a place: a site address and often a plot, survey, or parcel reference. The scope of works is described explicitly, and on a building permit it is tied to a numbered set of approved drawings. The rest of the page carries the conditions imposed, the fee paid and its receipt reference, the issue date, the commencement and expiry dates, inspection or sign-off boxes, the officer's signature, the authority's stamp, and on newer permits a barcode or QR. Scope, fee, and drawings hold each other in place. Permit fees are assessed on the work described, so a scope broadened after issue leaves a fee too small for what the permit now claims to allow. The approved drawing references identify a specific plan set, and work beyond those drawings is outside the permission regardless of what the scope line says. Validity runs a fixed term from issue, the stamp carries its own date, and the printed issue date should be consistent with the creation timestamp inside the file. ## How permit forgeries are made ### Scope broadening The description of works is rewritten to cover structural changes, additional storeys, or a use the authority never assessed. The fee and the approved drawing references stay as issued, so the permit ends up claiming authorisation that the payment record and the plan set behind it do not support. ### Shifted date window Commencement or expiry dates are moved so work carried out after the permission lapsed appears to fall inside it. This is the edit that surfaces during insurance claims and disputes, where the question is whether the work was permitted on the day it was actually done. ### Fee and receipt reference fabrication A receipt number and amount are invented for a payment that was never made, usually on a permit that is fabricated whole. The invented reference does not match the authority's receipt numbering, and the amount rarely corresponds to the fee the stated scope would attract. ### Digitally placed stamps and signatures The authority stamp and officer signature are positioned in a PDF rather than applied to paper. Placed marks sit at unnaturally precise angles, show no ink spread into the fibre, and have edges that stay crisp at magnifications where the surrounding print has already broken up. ### Permit number reuse A number from a genuine permit issued for another site is printed on a document describing different work. The number verifies if anyone looks it up, but the address, scope, and dates attached to it in the authority's record belong to a different project entirely. ### Barcodes that decode to nothing A QR or barcode is generated so the permit looks modern and machine-readable. Decoded, it returns a malformed reference, a dead link, or particulars that disagree with the page it is printed on, which few reviewers ever test. ## What TamperCheck checks on a permit 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. ### Embossed seal analysis A physically embossed seal deforms the paper it sits on. A seal that was scanned and reprinted is flat, and the two separate cleanly under analysis even when they are hard to tell apart by eye. ### 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. ### Signature forgery analysis Signature regions are assessed for ink consistency and for how the stroke sits on the page, which distinguishes a genuine pen stroke from a pasted image of one. ### And many more checks The three above are the layers that carry the most weight on a permit. 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 permit, and why Regulators, insurers, and contracting parties confirming authorisation. 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 permit in 4 steps 1. **Check the fields against each other.** Read permit number, scope of works, and validity period 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 permit and returns a risk score from 0 to 100 within seconds, at $0.50 per document. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I verify a permit is genuine? Take the permit number to the issuing authority and confirm the site address, scope of works, holder, and validity dates on record match what is printed. Check the fee and receipt reference against the payment record, since the fee is assessed on the scope and will not support a scope that has been widened. Then check the document for edited dates and placed stamps. ### Can a building permit be forged? Yes, and building permits are forged more often than most permit types because the consequences arrive late. Work proceeds, the building is occupied, and the permit is only read closely when an insurer, a buyer, or a regulator asks what was approved. By then the usual finding is a genuine permit for smaller works with the scope line rewritten. ### Can a permit number be reused on a different site? It can be printed on another document, and that is a common forgery. The number itself will verify against the authority's record, which is why the check that matters is comparing the site address, scope, and dates held against that number with the ones on the page in front of you. A number that verifies while its particulars do not is the signature of this technique. ### Does a QR code on a permit prove it is real? No. Anyone can generate a QR that scans, and a fabricated permit often carries one precisely because it looks like a verification feature. A QR is only evidence if it decodes to a reference on the issuing authority's own system and the particulars it returns match what is printed. Codes that decode to malformed references or dead links are common on forged permits. ## Related document types - Articles of Incorporation: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/articles_of_incorporation - Business Registration: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/business_registration - Company Extract: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/company_extract - Board Resolution: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/board_resolution - GST Certificate: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/gst_certificate - Trade License: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/trade_license --- Try TamperCheck now: https://tampercheck.ai/dashboard · Docs: https://tampercheck.ai/docs · Pricing: https://tampercheck.ai/pricing