VALDOSTA, Ga. — The year is 2020, but USAToday says that abbreviating the year could cost you big. 

Hamilton County, Ohio, Auditor Dusty Rhodes explains how easy it is to manipulate “01/05/20” into “01/05/2000” and the affect that it will have on your money. Rhodes tells USAToday, “Say you agreed to make payments beginning on 1/15/20. The bad guy could theoretically establish that you began owing your obligation on 1/15/2019, and try to collect additional $$$.” The same can be done with fraudulently post dating a check. 

The solution is simple: write out the entire date. Instead of writing “01/05/2020,” write “January 05, 2020.”