With the New Year upon us not only do we have to break the habit of writing 2019, when we really mean 2020, but the dawn of a new decade also creates a unique opportunity for scam artists.
When the year 2020 is abbreviated on official forms and documents, those looking to exploit unsuspecting people can easily manipulate those numbers and leave people open to fraud.
For example, a document dated 04Jan20 can easily be changed to 04Jan2021 by adding two numbers at the end.
There are several ways this could pose a problem. Perhaps a stale dated cheque (a cheque dated over six months in the past and therefore not negotiable) can be manipulated by adding two numbers to the abbreviated date and the cheque is no longer stale dated.
Another possible scenario would be if a person signed a loan document and the date was 04Jan20. If you happened to miss a couple payments and the lender goes to collect the debt, a dishonest lender could add 19 to the abbreviated date and potentially argue that you owe more than a year’s worth of payments.
It’s better to be safe than sorry!
Excerpts from https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/04/us/dont-abbreviate-2020-date-fraud-trnd/index.html
