Using the ’20 abbreviation on legal documents could result in fraud

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CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Now that it is officially 2020, scammers are on the lookout for any new opportunities to change legal documents and cheques.

Shawna-Kay Thomas with the Better Business Bureau said to always write out the full date on important documents.

“We say this because it’s a risk for you when you shorten it. There are scammers (…) looking and what they can do is manipulate this date.”

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With a simple two number change, the abbreviation ’20 can be easily changed to 2019 or 2021.

“We just want to be ahead of what scams are these days and how they’re changing and how they’re constantly (evolving),” explained Thomas.

“We just want consumers to be as safe as possible.”

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Thomas said that, during 2019, they didn’t see very many cases of the abbreviation date change.

“People may argue that it could have happened in 2019, but the risk was way less.”

“It was less concerning that people would change the date back. It’s easier to change the date forward.”

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