Why some BINs stop working?

[Cloned Boy]

BIN (Bank Identification Number) – the first 6 digits of a bank card, which determine the country, bank and card type. Some BINs are blocked or become inoperative over time for several reasons:

1. Blocking due to fraud (Fraud Detection)​

Banks and payment systems (Visa/Mastercard) constantly analyze transactions. If a certain BIN shows:

• Abnormally high bounce rate (often due to carding).
• Many fraud requests (attempts to check dumps).
• Suspicious transactions (darknet purchases, cashing out via crypto).

→ Such BIN may be blocked for international payments or closed completely.

Example:

• In 2021, Visa blocked several BINs of Latin American banks due to massive attacks.

2. Updating payment systems (EMV, 3DS 2.0)​

Old BINs issued before implementation:

• EMV chips (dynamic cryptography).
• 3D Secure 2.0 (strong authentication).

→ May no longer be supported because they do not meet modern security standards.

Example:

• Some non-3DS (NON-VBV) debit card BINs no longer work because Visa/Mastercard have made it mandatory for all cards to enable two-factor authentication.

3. Sanctions and banking policies​

• Sanctioned BINs (for example, cards from Russian banks stopped working abroad after 2022).
• The bank has closed the program (for example, prepaid cards of a certain issuer are no longer serviced).

Example:

• In 2023, some European BINs stopped accepting payments from countries with high fraud rates (Nigeria, Moldova).

4. Technical changes (BIN split, reissue)​

Banks sometimes:

• They split BINs (allocate new ones for different types of cards).
• Cards are being reissued en masse (for example, after a data leak).

→ Old BINs stop working as they are replaced by new ones.

Example:

• Following a data breach in 2020, a major US bank replaced BINs for all cards.

5. Blocking by merchants and payment gateways​

Some sites and payment systems (Stripe, PayPal) manually block "hot" BINs, which have been the subject of a lot of fraud.

Example:

• Giftcard sites often blacklist BINs that have been the source of many fraudulent orders.

How do banks and payment systems detect problematic BINs?​

1. Machine learning – analysis of transaction patterns.
2. User complaints - if there are many chargebacks (disputed payments).
3. Darknet monitoring – tracking leaks and dump sales.

Conclusion for cybersecurity professionals​

• BIN analysis is an important part of anti-fraud systems.
• Legacy BINs are dying out due to tightening standards (EMV, 3DS 2.0).
• Fraudulent BINs are blocked automatically or manually.

If you are studying payment systems from a security perspective, it is useful to understand:
BIN directories (e.g. binlist.net).
Anti-fraud analytics (how Stripe and PayPal detect suspicious BINs).
Blocking dynamics (how Visa/Mastercard react to new threats).

Want to dig deeper into the security mechanisms? Ask!