Despite there being more than 10,000 possible combinations in a four-digit PIN, nearly 27% of us use one of the top 20 PINs to get cash from an ATM, according to recent analysis.
3.4 million PINs have been analysed to see what were the most commonly used. Here are the top 20. Can you guess which is the most common? Yes, over 10% of people choose 1234 as their PIN.
| # | PIN | Freq |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | 1234 | 10.713% |
| #2 | 1111 | 6.016% |
| #3 | 0000 | 1.881% |
| #4 | 1212 | 1.197% |
| #5 | 7777 | 0.745% |
| #6 | 1004 | 0.616% |
| #7 | 2000 | 0.613% |
| #8 | 4444 | 0.526% |
| #9 | 2222 | 0.516% |
| #10 | 6969 | 0.512% |
| #11 | 9999 | 0.451% |
| #12 | 3333 | 0.419% |
| #13 | 5555 | 0.395% |
| #14 | 6666 | 0.391% |
| #15 | 1122 | 0.366% |
| #16 | 1313 | 0.304% |
| #17 | 8888 | 0.303% |
| #18 | 4321 | 0.293% |
| #19 | 2001 | 0.290% |
| #20 | 1010 | 0.285% |
Given this distribution of PINs from all 10,000 possibilities, there is actually 1 in 5 chance that you’ll guess the PIN number on a cash card in 5 attempts. Not bad odds for the average mugger or thief.
Is it time for banks to increase the length of PINs, or introduce another way of securing their cash cards?