How To Verify A PayNow Payment And Spot A Fake

It's 11:48pm, two weeks before your Christmas market, and a stallholder sends a PayNow screenshot. Then a second, with no order number on it. Then a third.

They all look fine. The amounts are right, two have a green tick, and the times say tonight.

But a screenshot is a picture of someone's phone. It can be edited, reused, or taken before the transfer went through.

The only way to verify a PayNow payment is to find the money in your own bank account. The screenshot is a pointer. Your bank is the proof.

Here's how to check every one, and what to do when the money isn't there.

For the whole money side of your event, our guide to collecting booth fees covers it end to end.

Why Isn't A PayNow Screenshot Proof Of Payment?

A screenshot isn't proof because it shows what was on someone's screen, not what reached your account. It can be edited in any photo app, reused from an earlier payment, or captured from a transfer that was scheduled, failed or sent to the wrong person.

In June 2025, the Singapore Police Force reported a shop owner who released a gold necklace after a buyer sent a screenshot of a supposed successful payment, then found no money had arrived. The police advised business owners to make sure payments have actually been credited to their bank accounts Singapore Police Force, Man To Be Charged For Cheating (4 Jun 2025).

Our verdict: treat every screenshot as a question, "did this arrive?", and answer it from your bank.

How Do You Verify A PayNow Payment?

You verify a PayNow payment by opening your own banking app, finding the incoming credit, and checking it against the booking on amount, time, payer and reference. In order:

1. Open your banking app yourself. Not a link someone sent, and not a forwarded statement.
2. Pick the account your PayNow is linked to. If you have a personal and a business account, check the one the QR points at.
3. Find a credit near the time on the screenshot. It should sit within a few minutes of it.
4. Check the amount to the cent. S$180.00 is not S$18.00 or S$108.00.
5. Check the payer's name. It should be the vendor, or someone they told you would pay.
6. Check the reference. The order number they typed shows here, if your bank displays it.
7. Write the result against the booking, with the date you checked, then mark the stall paid.

If any check fails, don't confirm yet. It isn't automatically a fake, just a question to answer first.

What Does A Real PayNow Credit Look Like In Your Bank?

A real PayNow credit is an incoming entry in your account history showing the amount, the date and time, and usually the payer's name and the reference they typed. Labels differ by bank, so learn what a few genuine credits look like in yours.

If your bank offers incoming-transfer alerts, turn them on, but still check the history before you confirm.

Signs A Screenshot Has Been Edited Or Faked

The clearest sign of a fake screenshot is that there's no matching credit in your bank. The signs below just tell you which to check first.

Details That Don't Line Up

The time is hours from when the vendor said they paid. The amount is close but not exact. The recipient name isn't yours, which can also be an honest mistake: money sent to the wrong person.

Signs Of Editing

Look for a time stamp that's blurred, cropped or covered, or digits in a slightly different font or spacing from the text around them.

A Reused Screenshot

The same transaction reference, or the same time to the second, on two different stalls. Keep a list of references you've already matched and this one is easy to catch.

A Transfer That Never Finished

Some banking apps let people schedule a transfer for later, and a review screen can look a lot like a confirmation. Scheduled, pending or processing means nothing has arrived yet.

Our verdict: none of these prove fraud on their own, and a perfect-looking screenshot proves nothing either. Your bank decides.

How Do You Match References And Order Numbers?

You match a payment by the order number the vendor typed, backed up by the bank's transaction reference. An order number is the reference you give the booking, like XM-031. A transaction reference is the number the bank gives the transfer.

Keep both on the booking.

• No reference. See the same-price trap below.
• Same price, same evening. Two S$180 credits ten minutes apart are a coin toss without a reference or a name. Ask each vendor what time they sent it and whose account it came from.
• Someone else paid. Ask the vendor who to expect, and note the payer's name on the booking.
• One transfer for two stalls. Split it on your record and note which order numbers it covers.

Setting up the QR, and choosing between a mobile number and a UEN, is in our guide to PayNow for events.

What If The Amount Is Wrong?

Record what your bank shows, not what the screenshot claims, and treat the difference as owed or to be returned. A short payment is a part payment: what arrived, the balance, a due date, as our booth fees guide explains.

An overpayment needs more care. Refund the extra only after the full amount is in your history, and only back to the account it came from.

Be wary of anyone who "accidentally" overpays and urgently wants the difference sent to a different account.

How Long Should A PayNow Transfer Take?

A PayNow transfer should arrive in seconds. The Association of Banks in Singapore describes PayNow as instant and available 24/7, 365 days a year ABS: about PayNow.

So a screenshot stamped 12:14am should have a matching credit by 12:20am. If it's still missing the next morning, something went wrong.

What To Do When It Doesn't Arrive

1. Check the right account. Business and personal accounts catch people out.
2. Search by amount and date, not by name.
3. Ask the vendor to look for the debit in their own app's history, not on the confirmation screen.
4. No debit? The transfer never went through. Ask them to pay again.
5. A debit? Ask them to check the recipient name on it and contact their bank. ABS points PayNow questions to the payer's participating bank.
6. Hold the stall until a set deadline, such as 48 hours, then release it.

Our verdict: a missing credit is a fact, not a verdict on the vendor. In our experience, it's usually a mistake.

How Do You Ask About A Missing Payment Without Accusing Anyone?

Ask about the transfer, not the person: say what you can and can't see in your bank, and give them an easy next step. Send it privately, never in the group chat, and use the same wording for everyone.

Hi Mei, thanks for the screenshot for stall D03. We can't see a S$180 transfer from your account in our bank yet. Could you check your banking app's history and see whether it shows as completed? We'll hold D03 for you until 6pm Thursday.

It never says "fake". It names the stall and amount, and asks them to check their side.

Worked Example: Three Screenshots At Midnight

Picture a 60-stall Christmas market over a December weekend, with stalls at S$180 for both days. That's S$10,800 if every stall sells. This is an illustration, not a real event or customer.

Three screenshots arrive between 11:48pm and 12:14am. The organizer checks the bank next morning.

• A07, S$180 at 11:46pm, reference XM-018. The bank shows exactly that. Confirmed, transaction reference logged.
• B14, S$180 at 11:59pm, no reference. The bank shows S$180 at 11:59pm from an unfamiliar name. The vendor confirms her husband paid. Confirmed, with his name noted.
• D03, S$180 at 12:14am, reference XM-031, no green tick. Nothing. No S$180 credit near that time, and nothing since.

The organizer sends D03 the message above. Mei checks her app and finds no debit: she stopped on the review screen and never pressed confirm. She pays again at 9:40am, the credit lands within a minute, and D03 is confirmed.

No reply by Thursday, and D03 would have gone back on sale, as the vendor call said from day one.

In BookASquare, each vendor's screenshot and order number would sit on the order, and D03 would stay pending until someone marked the payment verified against the bank.

Keep A Record Of Every Check

For each payment, write down what you checked and when, so anyone on your team can see why a stall was confirmed. One row per payment: stall and order number, amount and time in your bank, payer name as your bank shows it, transaction reference, who checked it, and the proof file.

Once refunds are settled, delete proof screenshots you no longer need. They're full of other people's account details.

What To Do Next

Before the next screenshot lands, learn what a genuine PayNow credit looks like in your banking app, put a payment deadline in your vendor call, and save the message above so you're not writing it at midnight. Planning the rest of the market too? Start with our guide to running a market from scratch.

One honest limit: BookASquare never holds your money, so the bank check stays yours. If you'd rather not check transfers at all, a platform that collects and pays you out, such as Eventbrite or Peatix, is the better fit.

If you want vendors to pay you directly, with the order number, amount and proof already on each order, see how payments work.