I’m talking about these services: Steam, PS Store, eShop, App Store, Netflix or Disney+ being region locked in the sense of them demanding a billing address & phone number (must match the region that account is tied to) as foreign bank cards & multi currency cards (ones ued for travel) are invalid since they use BIN to pinpoint where a card is from rather than accepting it in the same manner a physical store would with a PoS terminal.

It’s the reason why Steam, App Store, eShop or Netflix refuse tourists bank cards as they require (local) billing address, (local) phone number & (local) payment method to curb people from taking advantage of regional pricing and these services have to comply with local tax regimes. As in, they may not like paying $20.99 a month for Apple TV but have to live with it due to their billing information being in their home country.

There’s a gray area of some sort: but requires (local) payment method & (local) residential address for a region change, is using prepaid cards with non-reloadable balance (in local currency) while visiting as a tourist and using the address of a relatives place or a rented AirBnB as billing information & (local) friends phone number, whether its fraud remains a gray area as it technically violates these service’s Terms & Conditions.

Is it because these sites and services have ToS tied to a specific region (taxes / refund policy) and demand local payment method, billling address & phone number for reference as these things are intended for residents rather than travelers? I.e. using a VPN (whilst in a first world region) to buy games cheap from a “third world” country on Steam has a risk of an account ban as it violates their ToS (it’s outlined in their contract).