Inspecting the paper catches sloppy fakes. Calling the issuing bank catches good ones. Here's how to do both properly — and the one misunderstanding that costs people the most money.
The one rule that matters most: call the bank named on the check using a phone number you found yourself on that bank's official website — never the number printed on the check. A number printed on a fake check is chosen by the person who made the fake, so calling it just connects you to the scam.
Everything else is useful, but secondary. Physical inspection can only ever tell you a check is bad — it can never tell you a check is good, because a competent counterfeit passes every visual test. Keep that asymmetry in mind as you read.
Start here because it's free and takes thirty seconds. You're looking for the tells of a hurried fake.
| What to check | What a real check looks like |
|---|---|
| The edges | At least one edge should be perforated or feel rough — checks are torn from a book. Four smooth edges is a strong sign the check was printed on a home printer. |
| The paper and watermark | Real check stock often carries a watermark visible when held to light. If it's missing, the logo looks off, or the paper feels like plain printer paper, treat it as counterfeit. |
| Security features | Look for microprinting on the signature line, a security screen on the back, and the words "original document" on the reverse. |
| The MICR line | Legitimate checks carry a MICR line at the bottom — routing number, account number, check number — printed in magnetic ink. |
| The two amounts | The numeric amount and the written-out amount must match. Any discrepancy is a strong signal the check isn't legitimate. |
| Spelling | Typos in the printed business name, bank name, or address are a classic tell. |
| The bank's address | A P.O. box listed as the bank's address is a red flag. |
| Erasures | Signs of erasure or overwriting — especially on the payee name or the amount — suggest the check was altered. |
If any of these fail, you're done — you don't need step 2. If they all pass, you've learned almost nothing yet.
This is the only step that can actually confirm a check. The method matters more than the act:
The reason the lookup step is non-negotiable bears repeating: everything printed on a fraudulent check was chosen by the fraudster, including the customer service number and the bank's address. An independently sourced phone number is the one link in the chain they don't control.
If the check is issued by the U.S. government, the Treasury operates the Treasury Check Verification System (TCVS) specifically for this purpose.
This is where most of the real losses happen, and it's a misunderstanding rather than a failure of vigilance.
Under federal funds-availability rules, banks must make deposited funds available on a fixed schedule. That schedule runs faster than the behind-the-scenes process that actually settles money between institutions — and the gap between "available" and "settled" is exactly where reversals happen.
So when your balance goes up, the funds are provisional. Nothing about that credit means the paying bank has verified the check is legitimate; that verification can take weeks. The American Bankers Association makes the point bluntly: just because you can withdraw the money doesn't mean the check is good — and that holds even for a cashier's check or money order.
The consequence is that the money isn't yours to spend. If a deposited check turns out to be fake, the bank reverses the credit — and if you've already spent against it, you're liable for the shortfall. The worked example from Central Pacific Bank: deposit a $5,000 check into an account holding $1,000 and your balance reads $6,000. Write a $3,000 check against it before settlement, then have the $5,000 reversed, and you're overdrawn by $2,000 that you owe.
Two steps, in this order: don't spend any of the money, and contact your bank immediately. Your bank will remove the funds once it identifies the check as fake — getting ahead of that, rather than discovering it via an overdraft, is the whole goal.
If the check came with a story — a prize you didn't enter, an overpayment you're asked to refund, a job that pays you before you work — the check is the mechanism, not the point. See our guide to spotting fake check scams and reporting them for how those setups work and where to report one.
Verification is the receiving half of checks. The buying half — what checks cost, what security features are worth paying for, what you need to order — is covered in our complete guide to ordering, comparing, and verifying checks.
Reference links to real check retailers, with pricing sourced from each store's own listings as of July 2026. We earn no commission from any store below — see our Affiliate Disclosure.