The new year is giving scammers an easy way to forge documents, but officials say there is an easy way to protect yourself: don’t abbreviate the year 2020.

According to officials, when writing the date -- write it out completely because the abbreviation is easily changeable.

Officials say for example, scammers could change 1-1-20 into 1-1-2000 or even 1-1-2021.

Writing out the full date could protect you from scams, fraud, and other legal issues.