Could a credit to my bank account be part of a scam?

[MyNameIsUrl]

I just got an unknown credit of £5 to my bank account from 'PLLXSPL POLICY PYT'. Googling this gives results relating to Pollution Legal Liability Insurance, a US-based insurance agency ('minimum premium $10,000').

Could this be a test amount for some sort of scam?

[Dod101]

Usually a small credit like that is a precursor to sending a much larger amount electronically. It is surely possible that the sender has got a digit wrong and someone else is as we write advising the sender that no they have not received the test £5. (If I were to send say £100,000 against a house purchase to a solicitor's account that I had not used before, I might send a £5 first just to make sure I have got the account details correct.)

OTOH I would ask to speak to your bank's fraud department because if it is a scam they would surely like to know.

Dod

[UncleEbenezer]

(If I were to send say £100,000 against a house purchase to a solicitor's account that I had not used before, I might send a £5 first just to make sure I have got the account details correct.)

Never mind £100k, I always send a £1 tester for a new payee - for amounts ranging from £45 to £15k. If the £1 goes astray I can write it off without loss of sleep.
I think if I saw such a £5, I'd wait to be contacted. If the contact said "this was a mistake, can we have it back please"? I'd say yes of course - provided you meet any costs my bank might charge for it.

[mc2fool]

(If I were to send say £100,000 against a house purchase to a solicitor's account that I had not used before, I might send a £5 first just to make sure I have got the account details correct.)

Never mind £100k, I always send a £1 tester for a new payee - for amounts ranging from £45 to £15k. If the £1 goes astray I can write it off without loss of sleep.

Yes, I usually do much the same whenever I set up a new savings a/c, send £1 first just to make sure I didn't cock up in setting up the new payee to it.

However, I did have one occasion when I did that but then the bank's system refused to allow the follow up £Nk (single digit N) I wanted to put into the new savings a/c, followed quickly by a call from the bank's fraud dept to check if it really was me doing it.

They couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me why the payment had been refused but the agent did note the £1 initial payment and said that fraudsters often do that and it might have been a factor in the fraud system's decision. (That was, however, the one and only time that's happened....)

[UncleEbenezer]

They couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me why the payment had been refused but the agent did note the £1 initial payment and said that fraudsters often do that and it might have been a factor in the fraud system's decision. (That was, however, the one and only time that's happened....)

Message: anyone who behaves as if they have a modicum of common sense is suspect.

I guess it's the same mindset that bails out the greedy at the expense of the prudent ...

[Dod101]

Message: anyone who behaves as if they have a modicum of common sense is suspect.

I guess it's the same mindset that bails out the greedy at the expense of the prudent ...

I do not think that the cynicism is altogether justified. Banks are now damned if they do and damned if they don't. For larger amounts and sometimes not that large, I have had the same questions put to me when sending cash abroad and whilst it is annoying and sometimes frustrating, banks are under the cosh if they let money laundering transactions go through their systems almost no matter if they have taken all reasonable precautions or not. Blame the fraudsters not the banks.

Dod

[PinkDalek]

I just got an unknown credit of £5 to my bank account from 'PLLXSPL POLICY PYT'. Googling this gives results relating to Pollution Legal Liability Insurance, a US-based insurance agency ('minimum premium $10,000').

Could this be a test amount for some sort of scam?

To be followed up with promises of a much larger amount which you are then asked, somehow or other, to send immediately to somewhere instructed, at the risk of prosecution if you don't. When you do, despite appearances, you find the larger amount never cleared and you are out of pocket and possibly subjected to anti money laundering charges or similar. Possibly some sort of Money Mule scam https://www.financialfraudaction.org.uk ... ule-scams/ although it would depend on what happens next.

As suggested, contact you bank.

It may be a mistake as has been said.

[Lootman]

(If I were to send say £100,000 against a house purchase to a solicitor's account that I had not used before, I might send a £5 first just to make sure I have got the account details correct.)

Never mind £100k, I always send a £1 tester for a new payee - for amounts ranging from £45 to £15k. If the £1 goes astray I can write it off without loss of sleep.

Yes, I usually do much the same whenever I set up a new savings a/c, send £1 first just to make sure I didn't cock up in setting up the new payee to it.

However, I did have one occasion when I did that but then the bank's system refused to allow the follow up £Nk (single digit N) I wanted to put into the new savings a/c, followed quickly by a call from the bank's fraud dept to check if it really was me doing it.

I had a similar experience just this week. It wasn't quite the same because I was using a credit card online to buy an e-gift card for someone from a well known UK retailer. I wanted to buy a £150 card but thought I'd be "safe" and initially bought a £10 card, to be followed by a £140 card.

As you can imagine, the £10 transaction went through but then the £140 transaction was blocked. I got a message about "unusual activity being detected".

So trying to reduce risk in this way can actually increase the risk of failure.

I also had a credit card blocked after a hotel charged a peppercorn £1 "deposit" upon checking in. Very small transactions can look bad even when they are not immediately followed by another larger transaction.

[UncleEbenezer]

So trying to reduce risk in this way can actually increase the risk of failure.

I also had a credit card blocked after a hotel charged a peppercorn £1 "deposit" upon checking in. Very small transactions can look bad even when they are not immediately followed by another larger transaction.

Hmm.

I recollect an instance when a company required such a payment from me. An emergency situation: I found myself in Currys looking for an internet connection, and bought a 4G device and a contract with EE. In order to set up the contract, they insisted on a £1 "test" payment by card on the account setting up the direct debit, which they then immediately refund after verifying it. Slightly bizarre, but it got me a working connection, which has proved incomparably more reliable than Virgin's sick joke.

And I'm making increasingly many very small payments in general, particularly since the local buses started accepting card payment.

[mc2fool]

I also had a credit card blocked after a hotel charged a peppercorn £1 "deposit" upon checking in. Very small transactions can look bad even when they are not immediately followed by another larger transaction.

Hmm.

I recollect an instance when a company required such a payment from me. An emergency situation: I found myself in Currys looking for an internet connection, and bought a 4G device and a contract with EE. In order to set up the contract, they insisted on a £1 "test" payment by card on the account setting up the direct debit, which they then immediately refund after verifying it. Slightly bizarre, but it got me a working connection, which has proved incomparably more reliable than Virgin's sick joke.

Hmmm...both of those £1 examples are a bit of a curious way of doing things, as it's quite possible (and often done) to simply "reserve" a charge for an amount against a card without actually taking a payment (known as "pre-auth").

If it goes through then the merchant knows that it's passed the security checks and that the amount is available and reserved (the card holder sees the amount of credit available on their card reduced by the reserved amount, but no payment taken, yet). The merchant can then take anything up to the reserved amount or just cancel it, and the latter is often used with small amounts, like £1, to do a security check without having to take (and refund) any money....

[AF62]

Never mind £100k, I always send a £1 tester for a new payee - for amounts ranging from £45 to £15k. If the £1 goes astray I can write it off without loss of sleep.

To be certain the recipient has actually received it, my preference is to send a random amount up to a couple of pounds, for example £1.38, and ask the recipient to tell me the amount received. If they can't tell me the amount then they haven't received it!

[chas49]

Moderator Message:
This discussion is going a bit beyond the simple q&A nature of the DAK board. Please only further answers to the OP, and not extended discussion.... (chas49)