Someone sends a picture of a payment confirmation and asks you to ship, hand over the keys, or refund a “difference.” The picture is not the payment. Open the account that should hold the money and look for that transfer there. If it is missing, do not send the item and do not send more money.
A confirmation image is easy to crop, recolor, or assemble from an older receipt. This guide is the check to run before you trust one, and the cover to use when you are the person posting proof. Digits on the plastic card itself are a separate job, on hiding a credit card in a screenshot. For a general still, start from how to blur a screenshot.
Open larger image in a new tabCheck the account, not the picture
PayPal’s own help page on fake messages is direct about the “you’ve received a payment” story. Before you ship anything, log in to PayPal yourself and check that you actually received the payment. If the money arrived, it is in your PayPal activity. PayPal also says it will not ask you to share a tracking number by email. The same habit works for a bank app or any other payment app: the signed-in activity list is the record that can move money. A chat image cannot.
Open the app from your home screen, or type the site address yourself. Do not tap a link in the message that delivered the screenshot. Then match four things inside the account, not on the picture:
- The amount, including the currency you agreed.
- Who sent it, under the name your account shows.
- The status your account shows. A transfer it still marks as unfinished is not money you can spend yet.
- The date, close to when they say they paid.
If the name in your activity is not the person in the chat, you do not have their payment. A familiar display name on a new number is not a substitute. Call or message them on a number you already had, and still read the account.
Three stories that travel with a fake screenshot
You do not need forensic software. These are the patterns that show up next to a picture of a payment, including ones that look tidy.
Ship now, check later
They want the parcel to leave, or the keys handed over, before you refresh your account. A real payer can wait while you open the app. The rush is the tell. Refresh activity, then decide.
Paid too much
The message claims a larger amount than the price and asks you to return the extra, often along with the goods. PayPal describes this on fake payment emails: a note that says you were paid more than the listed price, then a request to send the difference back. Check the account before you send the item or the extra money. A screenshot of the overpayment is not a credit in your account.
The reference is blurred “for privacy”
A blur, a mosaic, or a crop over the reference code means you cannot match the image to a line in your activity. That is not a courtesy you have to honor. Stop using the picture. Use the account. If they will not wait for that, you do not have a payment.
Why a blur on the number fails both jobs
Blur gets asked to do two different things on these images, and it is the wrong tool for both.
On a proof someone else sent you, a soft blur hides the only string you could have compared with your activity. You are left with a green mark and a story. Ask them to pay in a way your account records. Do not ask them to reveal a secret into a public chat so you can “check the pixels.”
On a proof you are about to post, a soft blur or a mosaic over an account number can leave the shape of the digits. In 2016, Steven Hill, Zhimin Zhou, Lawrence Saul, and Hovav Shacham reported at PETS that mosaicing and blurring are not viable ways to redact text. A filled black bar removes the glyphs. The screenshot version of that choice is blur versus a black bar, and a plain-language note on the paper is why mosaiced text came back.
Open larger image in a new tabUse Black bar for account numbers, IBANs, card numbers, emails, and phone numbers. Use Blur only for a face that happens to be in the same photo. The Strength slider changes Blur and Pixelate. It does not lighten a black bar. The bar is a solid fill.
Black-bar your own payment proof
You paid a landlord, a seller, or your share of a group trip, and someone wants to see the confirmation. Send a covered copy. A group chat that needs to see an amount and a date does not need your IBAN, the running balance, or the grocery charge under it.
These steps are for a still image in BlurThis’s text tool. The same controls are on the home editor.
- Tap Choose image, drop the file, or paste it (Ctrl+V or Command+V). PNG, JPG, and WebP open directly. A HEIC photo from a phone needs to be exported as JPEG or PNG in Photos first, then opened here. The file stays in this browser tab. Nothing is sent to BlurThis. A file over 25 MB is refused.
- Select Black bar, then Rectangle. On a phone those two sit in the same tool grid. Drag one rectangle over the account number, IBAN, or card number, with a little padding so no stroke of a digit sits outside the bar.
- Add more rectangles for the balance, other people’s names in the list, your email, your phone number, and a full address. Leave the amount and the date if the recipient needs those to match their own records. On a public post, cover your full name as well.
- If the number sits on a tilted photo of paper rather than a flat screenshot, switch the shape to Draw. Trace a loop around the line and release. The outline closes and fills. For a normal screenshot, Rectangle is the one you want.
- Optional second pass: tap Find sensitive text. On a phone that control is labeled Text. It can suggest emails, phone numbers, card numbers, and IBANs. Select the ones you want, then tap Apply black bar. It does not reliably flag a person’s name, an amount, or a payment reference. Use Zoom in and paint anything it missed.
- Tap Download. The file is saved as
redacted.png. Open that PNG at full size. If a digit edge still shows, use Undo and widen the bar. Share the PNG, not the original screenshot.
Open larger image in a new tabA solid bar in a PNG stays covered if a chat app later compresses the file. A light blur does not get that courtesy. Format notes are in JPEG versus PNG for a redacted screenshot. A photo of a screen can still carry location from the camera. Covering pixels does not answer that. See screenshots and GPS metadata.
Clear drops the working copy from this tab. It does not erase the original in your photo library. Delete that file yourself if you do not need the unbarred copy.
Questions people still ask
Can I tell a fake PayPal screenshot by staring at it?
Sometimes the crop is obvious, or the currency does not match what you agreed. You still should not ship on that judgment. Log in and read activity. PayPal’s instruction is to confirm the payment there before you ship.
Does a black bar delete the payment?
No. It hides numbers on the copy you send. Your bank still has the transaction. The bar is for the image, not for the ledger.
The screenshot only shows the last four digits. Is that safe to post?
Four digits plus your name and a balance can still point at the account. Cover the last four on a public post. A private note to the person you paid can show the amount and the date, and bar the rest.
Treat the screenshot as a picture. Treat the signed-in account as the payment. If you post your own confirmation, use Black bar and Rectangle, then Download, and send redacted.png. Other blur jobs are routed from which guide to open.
