Don’t abbreviate 2020 when signing documents, police warn. It can be used against you

It’s easy to accidentally write the incorrect date right after New Year’s but experts warn that abbreviating 2020 could lead to something more serious: fraud.

The East Millinocket Police Department wrote in a Facebook post that writing “20” instead of the year 2020 could result in fraud because dates could be manipulated. For example, “March 3rd, 2020 being written as 3/3/20 could be modified to 3/3/2017 or 3/3/2018.”



“This is very sound advice and should be considered when signing any legal or professional document,” the police department posted. “It could potentially save you some trouble down the road.”

Dusty Rhodes, auditor from Hamilton County, Ohio, posted a similar warning on Twitter.

“When writing the date in 2020, write the year in its entirety,” he wrote. “It could possibly protect you and prevent legal issues on paperwork. Example: If you just write 1/1/20, one could easily change it to 1/1/2017 (for instance) and now your signature is on an incorrect document.”

Others agree that the threat of fraud is real.

Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates told USA Today that scammers could backdate a document in order to cash in an older check or even try to establish that debt is unpaid.

“Say you agreed to make payments beginning on 1/15/20. The bad guy could theoretically establish that you began owing your obligation on 1/15/2019, and try to collect additional $$,” Rheingold wrote to USA Today.

Post-dating documents could also be a potential issue.

A check dated “1/1/20” could be labeled “1/1/2021,” making it active, Rheingold wrote.

An easy solution? When in doubt, write out the full date. That means write January 02, 2020, not 01/02/20.

This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Don’t abbreviate 2020 when signing documents, police warn. It can be used against you."