Many of us are used to write only the last two digits of the year and for a long time we have complete documents in this way; however, a new year begins that invites us to change this habit and write the full date to prevent alterations in the documents.
This recommendation is intended to avoid making easier for criminals to add two more digits with the intention of modifying the date of contracts or writings, even this alteration may occur in checks that could be cashed later or in contracts that could have a start date before the authentic one. For example, imagine that you signed a contract from 2/1/20 to 4/1/20, the document would be exposed to be modified and someone could change those “20” for earlier dates, such as 2018 or any other year, this would imply a drastic change in your agreement and would appear to be a contract starting two years before the actual date.
The suggestion of writing the complete date in all legal documents related to money or any other obligation is to avoid future legal complications. In the same way, it is recommended that at the time of signing any act, check, promissory note, etc., take the time to read the entire document and look for legal or expert advice, keeping in mind that the correct way to write the date is 01/01/2020 and not 01/01/20.
Remember that there are people seeking to benefit at the expense of others and who commit crimes against property or capital, they usually use different tools to achieve their objectives, including scam and deception; they can harm a person’s financial life if we make it easier for them to forge documents. Hence, the importance of making society aware of possible crimes that can be carried out in documents that do not have written the full year.
Keep these recommendations in mind, even when signing documents at work to avoid them being altered to past or future dates, for instance, signing a work contract that may appear to have started after the actual date.
Another suggestion to take into account when filling out important documents, is to write the date in letters, thus supporting the one you initially wrote with numbers and can be more certain that the document will not have any alteration.
Over the years, technology has generated the use of electronic signatures in digital documents, for this type of files there are computer programs that identify whether numbers have been added to the original document, however and as far as possible, it should be avoided to reach this point and verify that the document has the complete information from the beginning.
You can also put a period at the end of the date, which would indicate that the day, month, and the year ends there and that would avoid adding numbers, likewise, having witnesses while signing these documents could avoid headaches in the future.
Let’s prevent criminals from taking the opportunity to change dates by writing the year 2020 correctly.