Why You Shouldn't Abbreviate 2020 When Signing Important Documents

When signing and dating important documents in the new year, shortening "2020" to "20" may put you at risk for fraud. Law enforcement warns that shortening the year to "20" gives scammers the opportunity to alter the year to any from the past two decades. This could potentially allow for checks, professional or legal documents to have the appearance of being signed before or after they actually were. 

For example, "1/01/20" could be altered to "1/01/2018", allowing fraudsters the opportunity to change a document that already has your signature on it. The same could be said for 2018 and 2019. However, law enforcement cautions that dates closer to the present aren't as likely to cause as many red flags as dates from prior centuries. 

For more safety tips, please visit the Security Center.