I’m working here...or am I? The threat of pay stub generators

Published 24 Feb 2026

Updated 04 Mar 2026

Pay stub, pay slip, salary slip, earnings statement, proof of income...

Whatever the designation, this is one of the most common document types across the global economy: a document provided by an employer that outlines an employee's earnings and deductions for a specific duration.

Pay stubs provide proof of payment/income, often required for credit assessment (loan and mortgage underwriting) or work history verification (tenant and employment screening).

Unfortunately, their popularity for verification purposes also makes them a prime target for fraud.

Financial criminals regularly create fake pay stubs using editing software, online templates, and now entire paystub generators.

We’ve already written about the emergence of fake pay stubs (and how to spot them).

Now, our Threat Intelligence Unit is taking a closer look at these “paystub generators,” and what they mean in the larger context of online tools that allow people to quickly generate authentic-looking financial documents.

What is a paystub generator?

A part of our “generator” template farm category, a paystub generator is:

Pay stub generator:

An online tool combining a form-like layout or template with calculated fields to provide documents serving as a proof of income, including all necessary information on the employer, the employee (or contractor), taxes and deductibles required on such document.

By definition, these generators specialize in providing income confirmation documents that look completely authentic, with complex layouts, company details, logos, or even more intricate elements to elevate documents’ credibility.

And they’re very easy to use and navigate, usually advertising the generation of a pay stub in 3 simple steps. Just fill out each section properly and an authentic-looking pay stub is ready for use.

Why bother creating your own layouts or editing a template manually when a finished document is only a couple clicks away?

That said, this is not a one-size-fits-all use case. These generators come in many shapes and forms with varying pricing, templates available, or functionalities (logical checks, address autofills, deposit slips etc.).

Some pay stub generators focus specifically on pay stubs and other major tax-related financial documents (W2 forms, 1099 forms, 1040 forms etc.).

Others, often free to use, are landing pages of HR or payroll software providers, acting as a marketing play to bring in more leads. And some are subsections of wider template provider websites.

Fake pay stub financial crime use cases

Let’s get into the specifics of what document fraud fake pay stubs enable:

• Loan & credit fraud. Inflating income to qualify for personal loans, higher-limit credit cards, auto loans, BNPL, or mortgage applications (often combined with fake bank statements).
• Rental & leasing fraud. Faking employment and income to pass landlord checks, commonly paired with forged references or bank statements; frequently seen in short-term rental abuse and professional squatting.
• Employment fraud. Misrepresenting income or employment history to get hired under false pretenses, pass background checks, or support fabricated contractor or freelancer profiles.
• Benefits & subsidy fraud. Underreporting or misreporting income to qualify for welfare, housing benefits, or emergency relief programs.
• KYC & onboarding abuse. Using fake pay stubs as proof of income or employment, or to support source-of-funds narratives during onboarding or remediation.
• Insurance fraud. Inflating salary or income history to increase disability, accident, or compensation payouts.

There are obviously more examples of financial crimes that rely on fake income documentation due to its common use across the global economy.

One area that has been seemingly hit hard by fake pay stubs is tenant screening.

Another common use case of fake pay stubs is loan underwriting, mostly for home or car purchases.

Pay stub generators: legitimate vs illegal?

Pay stub generators require a nuanced approach when it comes to financial crime.

Template farms, for example, are clearly targeting customers who want to use fake document templates for illegal activity (even though they might try to hide behind disclaimers about novelty uses).

The same can be said for account farms, as “verified” accounts are obviously being marketed to individuals or groups that purposefully do not want to create accounts in a legitimate manner.

But that’s the problem with these tools. They’re not payroll providers. They perform some basic pay or tax-related calculations, but they do not issue wages or verify the employment relationship, the sheer existence of the employer, or any other personal details put into the document.

Threat intel stats on pay stub generators

Let’s get to the facts and data-based insights our threat intel unit has gathered so far.

How many pay stub or pay slip generators have we found?

In a relatively short time span, we have tracked 150+ different generators. This figure includes everything from fully dedicated websites to payroll software subpages.

How popular are these pay stub generators?

The most popular websites can generate up to 200k+ visits monthly, totaling millions of visits in a year.

Typology and examples of pay stub generators

We’ve given you an overview of the pay stub generator landscape: the definitions, the use cases of fake pay stubs, the issue of these generators legality, and the data we gathered on the size and diversity of this sub-market of the fake document ecosystem.

Our approach to pay stub generators

As we’ve just shown, there’s no shortage of online tools for making quick and quality pay stubs.

While mentioning the web traffic stats on these sites, this is just one part of the equation.

So what’s our current approach to online generated pay stub documents?

It can’t conclusively be ruled that these generators only produce fake pay stubs; however, we’ve now moved to flagging documents that come out of these websites.

The fake document ecosystem is endlessly diverse. It doesn’t really matter what document a fraudster is in need of – there will always be some provider that’s ready to deliver.

If you want a tool driven by cataloguing and preparing for these threats, scroll down to book a demo.