There is virtually no way for someone to check to see if Johnny really flew from Silvis to Peoria on 15 July 1988.

Looking at logbooks is more like forensic accounting. If the numbers don't feel right, they probably aren't. I used to look for logical trends. If the guy says he flies 8 hours per day, I looked for some sort of repetative schedule (five days on, two off, seven and seven, etc.). I used to know the dates of all the hurricanes.... if he was based in Homestead and flew 6 hours the day after Andrew came through, something was wrong. Or if he was based in Bangor and flew his 152 100 hours in February, there was something wrong.

As for me, my logbook is as accurate as the Hobbs meter. (And I knew which planes' Hobbs ran fast and which ran slowly).