Plastic cards have actively entered the lives of millions of Russians. For many, they have practically replaced paper money. At the same time, a rare user knows that each number on the card has its own meaning.
Secret code
Most of the data is printed on the front side of each bank card. First of all, attention is drawn to the long card number. The most common sequence of 16 digits, although there used to be 13-digit numbers, and now you can find a 19-digit number. Their decoding is pretty simple.
Sberbank customers have cards with an 18-digit number, because this bank encrypts the region of issue of the card in two additional digits.
The first digit in the number of the plastic card means which payment system it belongs to. All VISA cards have numbers starting with "4", MasterCard - with "5", and American Express - "3". If the card was issued by a non-credit institution, the number may start with other digits. “1” and “2” are different airlines, “3” are travel and entertainment organizations, “6” are merchandising companies, “7” are fuel companies, “8” are telecommunications companies, and “9” is government bills.
The second, third and fourth digits in the number are the number of the bank that issued the plastic card. The fifth and sixth give additional information about this lending institution. Together, the first six digits in the card number are the so-called bank identifier or BIN.
If the bank has been issuing the card for a long time, the numbers on the face will be embossed. They are applied to express cards with special paint.
The seventh and eighth digits in the card number are the designation of the bank's program by which it issued the credit card.
Personal data
All other digits, except for the last one, give the individual card number. At the same time, it is formed according to a special algorithm, that is, for two cards created in a row, the number will not differ by only one digit - it will generally be unique.
The last digit in the number is the check one. For the sake of curiosity, it is easy to verify its correctness yourself. To do this, you need to write down separately all even numbers in the seven-digit card number, double them and add the result. Then add all the odd digits of the number to them. If the result is a two-digit number, it is necessary to sum the digits of which it consists.
In addition, on the front side of the plastic card its validity period is indicated: the number of the month and the last two digits of the year are indicated with a slash.
Security issue
On the back of plastic cards, depending on their type, the seven-digit card number or the last four digits of the number are indicated. In addition, there are three more digits on it - the CVC code. This data allows you to make online payments. Fraudsters just need to remember all the numbers that are printed on a plastic bank card in order to use other people's money without even stealing the card itself. That is why employees of banks and law enforcement agencies recommend not to give credit cards to other people, but to personally monitor all operations carried out by sellers or waiters.
