Why some BINs stop working?

Cloned Boy

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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!
 
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