New WA for Biz account banned instantly

[fotoflo]

Hi there 👋

I had a brand-new WhatsApp Business number get banned almost immediately — at connect/registration time, before I sent a single real message — and I'm trying to understand how common this is and, more importantly, what's actually safe.

What happened

• Registered a fresh number in the WhatsApp Business app.
• Didn't send a single message
• Connected it through Baileys for the first time (multi-file auth) from a VPS (datacenter IP), Ubuntu / Node 22.
• First connects hit a 405 "Connection Failure" reconnect loop (not logged in, attempting registration…). Fixed with fetchLatestBaileysVersion(), after which a QR appeared normally.
• Tried to link via both QR and requestPairingCode.
• During the link the socket went logging in… → 401 (loggedOut) in a loop, and the number got banned. No outbound messages were ever sent.
• Side note: the number was later recoverable in the official Business app, so this particular ban appears to have been temporary.

Environment

• Baileys: 6.17.16 · Node 22.x · Ubuntu 24.04 on a VPS (datacenter IP)
• Auth: multi-file; tried QR and pairing code · default browser tuple

My questions

1. How rare is an instant ban on a brand-new number, just from linking — before any messages?
2. Is it the new-number + datacenter IP + companion-link combo? Would a residential/mobile IP change it?
3. Did the failed-link churn (405 loop, then QR + pairing code) make it worse?
4. Aged vs. fresh: do established numbers link reliably where fresh ones get nuked?
5. Recoverability: are these bans usually temporary or do they trend permanent with repeated reconnects?