It’s common practice to use abbreviations when dating legal and other documents, but security experts are recommending that you completely write out the year 2020. The reason? It would be easy to backdate a document dated 1/15/20. Adding a couple digits backdates the document a year to 1/15/2019 (or whatever year in the past 20 years they wanted to choose.)

This could create a huge problem with legal or financial documents, creating liabilities prior to insurance policy inception dates, adding a year’s worth of interest due on a note or a thousand other possible scenarios. There’s no end to the ways scammers could take advantage of this.

The solution? It’s simple, get in the habit of always writing out dates. In the above example, writing out the date as January 15, 2020 would eliminate the possibility of tampering.

The issue has started appearing on major news sites. Here’s a few links to related articles about abbreviating the new year.

USA Today

Forbes

CNN

 

About Overmyer Hall Associates

Overmyer Hall Associates is one of the fastest growing agencies in the country, quickly becoming one of the largest property and casualty insurance agencies in Central Ohio. Overmyer Hall Associates provides clients with insurance and risk management, specializing in Business Insurance, Surety Bonding, and Home & Auto Insurance. Since its founding in 2011, the firm has been awarded Columbus Business First’s "Fast 50" and "Best Places to Work" awards, the IIABA’s “Best Practices Agency” recognition, Columbus CEO Magazine’s “Best Insurance Broker” and the Columbus Young Professionals Club’s “Wonderful Workplace for Young Professionals” award. www.oh-ins.com