We are seeing reports from some Police Departments suggesting that you write out 2020 instead of leave it just 20. Police Departments handle scam and fraud calls on a regular basis.

According to Snopes.com –

“Such warnings cautioned that simply rendering the year on a check as “20” (e.g., 1/3/20), for example, could facilitate someone else’s later appending “21” to it (e.g., 1/3/2021), thereby converting an uncashed check that had expired due to age into something seemingly current and usable. Similarly, a legal agreement intended to begin on the date “1/3/20” could be altered to read “1/3/2019,” thereby making it appear the contractual terms had been in effect much earlier than they actually were.

Many critics found the subject of these warnings rather unlikely, however, noting that many documents are vulnerable to fraudulent alteration by a variety of means regardless of how any dates they include might be rendered. And in such cases, various forms of evidence can usually be marshaled to prove the alteration and thwart its purpose.

Others believe the maxim about “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” still holds true: scammers generally seek easy targets, so any simple action that can potentially discourage their efforts — including writing out the full date — will usually be easier and more effective than trying to undo damage after the fact.

Whether to follow this advice is an exercise left to the reader: It may not help much (if at all), but neither will it hurt.”