We are now in the year 2020, and we’ve got a whole new year ahead of us. Unlike in recent years, this year requires us to be more vigilant when it comes to signing relevant documents.

Most of us have gotten used to writing the date by using the last two digits of the year. However, this year, the same habit could put us at risk.

It is not advisable to abbreviate 2020 when signing legal or any relevant documents to avoid any potential fraud or legal issues on any paperwork. The reason being is that anyone could modify the date to a year in the past or for a future date.

When signing and dating legal or any relevant documents, do not use “20” to represent the year “2020”. Just by writing the date as 05/07/20 (May 7, 2020), anyone can fraudulently change it to 05/07/2018 or 05/07/2019, or any year in this century.

The risk has something to do specifically with the year 2020, which is very close to the year 2019 and earlier, which has the likelihood to be exploited. Unlike 2019 as “19” could only be changed to a date between 1900 to 1999 wherein 1999 is the nearest possible year of interest, which is already a 20-year difference.

Protect yourself and do not abbreviate but instead write down the year in its entirety.

Please keep in mind as this is very important.

Happy New Year!