US police are warning people not to abbreviate "2020" to just "20" when signing documents because it could open you up to fraud.
A date such as "1/5/20" could easily be changed to "2019" or any other year, in the future or past - whatever best suits the scammer.
"Abbreviating the year could lead to fraud," the NYPD 120th Precinct warned on Twitter.
Signing a contract dated "6/1/20", for example, could be changed to read "2019", making it easier to claim the terms had been broken or it had expired and was no longer valid.
While they're not particularly common in New Zealand, cheques could also be easily forged. A stale cheque could have its date changed to 2021, making it valid to cash again.
"Prevent yourself from becoming a victim," the NYPD 120th Precinct says.
New Zealand police say while they're not aware of any cases where this has happened locally, they urge people filling out documents to be "as thorough and complete as possible".
"This prevents people from being able to add extra detail which may put you at risk," a spokesperson told 1 NEWS.
Multiple police departments across the US have shared the same message, but response has been mixed in some cases.
One person criticised the logic and argued whether abbreviating '2019' to '19' would have caused similar issues.
"Should we not have used '19' for the entirety of last year: eg 3/3/19 because someone could alter it to '3/3/1991' (92, 93, 94, through 1998)? Sorry. Sounds like fear mongering here," he wrote on a post shared by the East Millinocket Police Department.
However in response, others pointed out that 1999 would have been 20 years ago, while things frequently edited to read 2019 would look more recent and realistic.
"Changing 19 to 1999 isn't the same as changing something from 20 to 2019 or 2021. I know there are a lot of 'experts' commenting here but there are also a lot of scammers waiting for an opportunity like this," one person wrote.
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