Learning some ATM personal identification number (PIN) security tips is something that takes very little time to do but could save you a lot of time, money and stress in the future.
Many people create their debit card and ATM PINs based on how easy the PIN is to remember.
See Also: Internet Scam Statistics 2012 [Infographic]
Unfortunately, this defeats the entire purpose of having a security PIN to begin with. You should be creating PINs that are as hard as possible to remember and, therefore, hard for thieves to guess!
An infographic (posted below) was recently published by BackgroundCheck.org that presents PIN statistics regarding the most common ATM PIN numbers used, the least common PINs and provides some tips on how to create a more secure PIN.
ATM PIN Security Infographic Highlights:
- The inventor of the first ATM and PIN number, John Shepard Barron, encouraged people to use 6-digit PINs instead of 4-digit numbers.
- Using the numbers 0-9, there are 10,000 different combinations of 4-digit PINs.
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5 most common pin numbers:
- 1234
- 1111
- 0000
- 1212
- 7777
- 27% of all PINs used can be guessed by going through the list of the 20 most common PINs.
- 18% of PINs include 2-digit numbers repeated twice – for example: “4545”.
- The most common number people use as the first digit in their PIN is “1”.
- The best way to make your PIN secure is to use something that is hard to remember and to use 6-digit PINs when possible.
