How to spot a fake telebirr payment screenshot
A telebirr screenshot only proves that someone had a picture on their phone. Here is how fake payments are made, the signs to look for, and the one check that settles it: the payment record at telebirr itself.
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Why fake screenshots work
The counter is busy, there's a queue, and the customer is in a hurry. A fake “payment successful” screen can be made in seconds with a photo editor or a fake-receipt app, and an old receipt that was real can simply be shown again.
Both look exactly like the real thing. The cashier sees the familiar telebirr colours, a green tick and an amount, and hands the goods over.
Four kinds of fake payment
- An edited screenshot: a real receipt with the amount, the receiver's name or the time changed.
- A generated screen: an app or template draws a “payment successful” screen for a payment that never happened.
- A reused receipt: a real payment from earlier, shown again at your shop or at another one.
- The wrong receiver: a real payment that went to someone else's number or account, not yours.
Warning signs on the screen
- The amount, name or time is in a slightly different font, size or position from the rest of the screen.
- The receiver's name is not your shop's registered name.
- The time is not just now: it's from an hour ago, yesterday or last week.
- The customer shows a photo, a forwarded image or a gallery picture instead of their own telebirr app.
- The transaction ID is missing or cropped, or doesn't look like a telebirr ID (10 letters and numbers, like CJK4QX8LMA).
- Pressure to hurry: “Quick, my taxi is waiting.”
None of these prove anything. A good fake shows none of them, and an honest customer's screenshot can look odd. Treat them as reasons to check, not as the check itself.
The four checks that settle it
- It went to your account: the receiver is one of your shop's own telebirr numbers or bank accounts.
- It's the right amount: never less than what the customer owes.
- It was paid just now, not last week.
- It hasn't been used before, at your shop or anywhere else.
You can check the first three on the receipt telebirr itself issues for that transaction ID. The fourth is hard by hand: you would need a list of every ID you have ever accepted.
How to check a telebirr payment yourself
- Ask for the transaction ID. It's on the customer's telebirr confirmation screen and in the SMS telebirr sent them.
- Look for that payment on the receiving side: in the telebirr account that receives your shop's payments, or in the SMS that account gets.
- Compare the receiver, the amount and the time with what you expected.
- Write the ID in a book, so the same ID can't be accepted twice.
This works, but it takes a minute or two for each payment, and the cashier usually can't see the owner's phone or SMS.
How Haq does it in seconds
The cashier photographs or scans the customer's screen, or types the transaction ID. Haq reads the ID on the phone, gets the official receipt from telebirr, and runs all four checks, including the reuse check across every shop on Haq.
Green means the money is in your account. Red says exactly what didn't match, so the cashier knows what to ask the customer.