Written for Mexico. This analysis applies to Mexican federal tax law — ISR (income tax), IVA (VAT) and SAT rules — and cites Mexican statutes. Amounts are in Mexican pesos (MXN).
Mexico's simplest scam no longer requires hacking anything: an edited transfer receipt is enough — a retouched screenshot, an altered PDF, or the "scheduled transfer" that gets canceled the moment you leave the store. Car sellers, landlords, merchants and even notaries fall for it every day. And there is an official antidote that is free and takes two minutes: Banxico's CEP. If you receive payments by transfer, this tool should be a reflex.
What the CEP is
The Comprobante Electrónico de Pago (Electronic Payment Receipt) is the document generated by the SPEI system itself — operated by the Bank of Mexico — for every interbank transfer that actually settles. It is not issued by the payer's bank or by an app: it is generated by the country's central payments infrastructure, with Banxico's digital seal. That is why its evidentiary weight is in another category: a bank receipt can be forged; a CEP queried directly on Banxico's portal cannot — either the transfer settled and the CEP exists, or it did not settle and there is no CEP to show.
How to verify a transfer someone claims to have sent you
Go to the official portal banxico.org.mx/cep (linked in our Resource Center) and enter: the date of the transaction, the tracking key (clave de rastreo — it appears on the sender's receipt; ask for it, and a refusal to provide it is already an answer), the sending bank, the receiving bank, your CLABE account and the exact amount. If the transaction settled, the system returns the CEP for download in PDF and XML. If the system cannot find it with the correct details, the money never left — no matter how convincing the screenshot you were sent looks.
Does your business hand over goods or sign against 'receipts'?
The collection protocol we implement with clients includes CEP validation as a mandatory step before releasing goods, signing a finiquito (final-pay release) or closing deals — together with the payment-intake policies that shield every collection legally and for tax purposes. One fraud avoided pays for years of the protocol.
The three deceptions the CEP destroys
- The edited receipt: a screenshot or PDF with the amount, date or account retouched. Against the CEP it does not survive: the data will not match what Banxico settled.
- The scheduled transfer: the scammer schedules the transfer for "tomorrow," shows you the confirmation screen for the scheduling, and cancels it the moment they have the goods. Scheduling generates no CEP — only actual settlement does.
- The eternal "in process" SPEI: SPEI settles in seconds under normal conditions. A payment that "hasn't landed" after minutes, during business hours, with no CEP to show for it, is not in process: it does not exist.
The nuances you should know
The CEP exists for interbank transfers (SPEI). Transfers between accounts at the same bank do not go through SPEI and generate no CEP — there, your validation is the actual credit to your account, never the payer's receipt. And an operational rule: the CEP query on the portal has a limited time window after the transaction, so download and archive it the same day — that file with Banxico's seal is the evidence you will want to have if something is disputed months later. The final golden rule, the usual one: goods, keys or signatures are handed over against money credited, not against receipts — the CEP speeds up verification precisely so you don't have to choose between trusting and losing the sale.
Frequently asked questions
Is the CEP free? Do I need to register?
It is free and requires no registration: it is a public query at the Bank of Mexico using the details of the transaction. Anyone who knows the transfer details can obtain it — by design, so the beneficiary can verify.
They paid me and the CEP exists — am I now 100% safe?
The CEP proves the transfer settled from the sending account to yours. Confirm that the beneficiary account on the CEP is in fact yours and that the amount matches what was agreed. With that, the payment happened — the remaining risks (reversals for fraud against the sender, for example) are separate, infrequent scenarios handled with your bank.
What do I do if I detect a fake receipt?
Don't hand anything over, preserve all the evidence (the fake receipt included — it is proof of the deception) and weigh filing a complaint: using false documents to obtain goods constitutes fraud. If you already handed something over, the CEP-versus-fake-receipt file is the basis for the criminal complaint and the claim.
Let's talk about your case
The first step is always the same: an honest diagnostic of where you stand. Write to us on WhatsApp or call — a reply the same business day.