(WJW) – The East Millinocket Police Department in Maine posted a word of advice on their Facebook page when it comes to abbreviating 2020 in the new year.
If you sign a document and only put 20 as the year, someone could modify it to include a different year.
According to the department, by writing out 2020 it could potentially save you some trouble down the road.
Auditor Dusty Rhodes tweeted, “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.”
East Millinocket Police added that while forgery would have also been possible in other years, doing so would have likely raised far more red flags depending on the circumstances. An example would be changing the year from 2019 to 1999 – a 20-year age gap – if someone had abbreviated it as 19.
More tips to keep you protected in 2020 from the Better Business Bureau here.
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