Japan is running out of combinations of credit card numbers

The boom in requests during lockdown accelerated the reduction in the number of usable sequences. The idea of ​​adding a 17th figure may not be enough

(photo: Yukinori Hasumi / Getty Images) The spread of Covid-19 in Japan has had a strong impact on the volume of online purchases, increasing the volume of business. A circumstance which, in turn, has caused a great demand for credit cards: so many that Japanese banks have declared that, in the short term, original 16-digit combinations will no longer be available to issue new ones.

A common problem for over 280 institutions, which are trying to understand how the figures can be arranged taking into account that the first six are not editable, as they identify the country, the brand and other technical information, just like the following ten which, on the other hand, are used to identify the number and type of account. The sequence that needs to be original is, therefore, that of the last six numbers.

A possible solution, according to the Guardian, is to add the 17th digit even if it is anything but simple: it would require additional tests to avoiding the counterfeiting of cards, an update of the more than 300 million already issued and a significant economic waste for credit card companies.