2020 is here and with it comes a new fraud warning.

Using a shorthand date this year could leave you venerable to fraud.

For example, 9/1/20 could be back-dated to 9/1/2019 simply by adding the 19 to the end, or even future dated to 9/1/2021 by adding the 21 to the end.

There are several documents which could leave you as risk this year:

Payment Contracts – if you chose for a payment deferral on your first payment and the date was moved backward then you could be liable to pay straight away

Employment Contracts – you may lose out on service benefits if the date was moved forward

Tenancy Documents – an agreement could show you living in the property longer which could leave you liable for additional rent

Insurance Documents – you may lose your right to claim if the coverage dates have changed

Vehicle Documents – changing the date could show you as being the owner at the time of an offence

Care also needs to be taken when filling out cheques and direct debit mandates.

Make sure this year, before signing anything important, you take care to write out the date, either by writing it as 09/01/2020 or 9th January 2020, so it’s much harder to alter and you’re not leaving yourself open to potential fraud.