[43454] in Cypherpunks
Re: credit card conventional wisdom (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Simon Spero)
Wed Nov 15 21:26:46 1995
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 18:22:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 18:07:25 -0800
From: Tom Wills <twills@eit.COM>
To: Simon Spero <ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: credit card conventional wisdom (fwd)
The printed digits above the embossed account number are the first four
digits of the BIN (on Visa cards) or ICA (on MasterCards). They are there
to discourage re-embossing of the card with another account number.
Original Message:
>
>Wow, you learn something every day. I've never in
>my whole life (well, my American Express life,
>over 15 years) noticed those four digits. I've
>never been asked for them by anyone, or noticed
>them being written down, either. Exactly when and
>how are they used?
