Avoid fraud: Write out 2020 on legal documents

 

Last updated 1/25/2020 at 4:15pm



Various law enforcement agencies have been reporting on social and print media that people should not abbreviate the year 2020 when signing legal documents, warning that signing important documents or checks with an abbreviation of 2020, i.e. “20,” could put them at risk of fraud. Writing the date out in full on legal documents and checks is recommended (write 2020, not just “20”).

If the date is written out as 01/01/20 (January 1, 2020), for example, fraudsters can easily change the date to 2019, 2021 or any other date in this century.

The issue has to do specifically with the year 2020. Abbreviating 2019 as “19” can only be changed to a date in the 1900s and abbreviating 2018 as “18” can only be changed to a date in the 1800s, says one social media post.

Abbreviating 2020 to 20 means that a criminal could write two numbers after the 20 to imply that the document was dated earlier or later than it actually was, thus creating problems for the person who wrote the check or signed the legal document.

 

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