The screenshot that wasn't
A revenue claim that survived a casual look and failed a two-minute check.
Most fake numbers aren't sophisticated forgeries — they pass because nobody performs the one check that would catch them, and buyers assume someone else already did.
A dashboard screenshot is an image of a number. It carries no more evidentiary weight than the number typed into the listing, and rather more persuasive weight, which is the entire problem.
The check that catches most of it takes two minutes and costs nothing: ask for a payment-processor export covering the same period, in the processor's own format, and compare the monthly totals. A seller with real revenue has this in under a minute. A seller without it produces a reason, and the reason is the finding.
The secondary check is internal consistency. Revenue, customer count and average price have to multiply out. A listing claiming a customer count and an MRR that imply an average price nothing in the pricing page supports is telling you something before anyone verifies anything.
The structural lesson: an unverified claim and a verified one should never render identically. If a platform shows both the same way, it has quietly made the honest seller's evidence worthless.
Sources
- FTC guidance on deceptive earnings claims — U.S. Federal Trade Commission · retrieved 2026-07-28
Part of the guide: Validating a product before you price it.