Erroneous debit from bank account

Lmg80 · 22 May 2020 at 21:22

Just a heads up; very bizarrely saw a debit for £1 on my account Westminster Parkin Fines London.
Given I live in a different county / not driven my car since lock down, seemed rather odd. A fine of £1 seems out of place too.
I suspect the local council also would not have a payment account called this rather it would be some pooled account.
The amount was debited in the early hours of the morning.
Card has been cancelled for now

NoobCannon · 22 May 2020 at 21:45

Cool story. 5 stars Would read again

moon man · 22 May 2020 at 22:01

yeh sounds like a probe with a small amount ,wise to cancel card

dirtychinchilla · 22 May 2020 at 22:10

£1 this time. £1,000,000 next time.

Lmg80 · 22 May 2020 at 22:10

moon man said:
yeh sounds like a probe with a small amount ,wise to cancel card

That's my suspicion too.

Cannot be too careful / defo worth checking your statements

Lmg80 · 22 May 2020 at 22:11

dirtychinchilla said:
£1 this time. £1,000,000 next time.

Only in Monopoly money

Lmg80 · 22 May 2020 at 22:13

NoobCannon said:
Cool story. 5 stars Would read again

Sorry chap, it was more an FYI if anyone else had seen anything similar. By all means it serves little or no purpose for many, you can have your 1 minute back

Pawnless Endgame · 22 May 2020 at 23:12

Any idea how the OP's card details got leaked by an unknown party? Especially in 2020 when we're encouraged to use Android/Apple Pay more since the covid outbreak with the new £45 limit, and thus avoiding using the actual plastic?

In 2007 (before contactless), €300 was debited from an overseas cashpoint, at a time when I was last overseas in 2003, so 4 year difference. I never got to the bottom of how my card details got leaked, but I did get the money back after about week. The worst thing about it that it happened on Christmas Eve.

Deleted member 77746 · 22 May 2020 at 23:17

That transaction sounds like a small test to see if it's a valid card. I bet if you didn't cancel it you would see a bigger transaction next time.

413x · 23 May 2020 at 02:00

I had something similar few years back. Tiny transaction from ticket master.
Rung Amex, they cancelled card and refunded. Never happened again

Captain · 23 May 2020 at 02:11

Pawnless Endgame said:
Any idea how the OP's card details got leaked by an unknown party? Especially in 2020 when we're encouraged to use Android/Apple Pay more since the covid outbreak with the new £45 limit, and thus avoiding using the actual plastic?

In 2007 (before contactless), €300 was debited from an overseas cashpoint, at a time when I was last overseas in 2003, so 4 year difference. I never got to the bottom of how my card details got leaked, but I did get the money back after about week. The worst thing about it that it happened on Christmas Eve.

There’s no limit on Apple Pay, not sure about android pay.

Werewolf · 23 May 2020 at 04:30

413x said:
I had something similar few years back. Tiny transaction from ticket master.
Rung Amex, they cancelled card and refunded. Never happened again

Small buys are often done to try and check the card is valid.

When one of my cards was compromised a few years back I (along with hundreds/thousands of other users of a particular Canadian DVD store) found out by spotting a charge for something like $2.49 from a US museum/art galleries coffee shop.
Another favourite back before the mobile phone companies started caring about basic card processing security, was that to check a card was valid the criminals would top up a PAYG sim (IIRC there was also an organised scam where stolen cards had the money laundered using banks of PAYG phones dialing premium rate numbers run by the people organising it).

VincentHanna · 23 May 2020 at 09:04

Werewolf said:
Small buys are often done to try and check the card is valid.

When one of my cards was compromised a few years back I (along with hundreds/thousands of other users of a particular Canadian DVD store) found out by spotting a charge for something like $2.49 from a US museum/art galleries coffee shop.
Another favourite back before the mobile phone companies started caring about basic card processing security, was that to check a card was valid the criminals would top up a PAYG sim (IIRC there was also an organised scam where stolen cards had the money laundered using banks of PAYG phones dialing premium rate numbers run by the people organising it).

Indeed

Anytime I pay at the pump for petrol, they initially charge £1 for a few days on the card, until it updates.

Resident · 23 May 2020 at 12:51

Captain said:
There’s no limit on Apple Pay, not sure about android pay.

With my Andriod pay it'll do upto the standard £30 with just the screen awake. Anything above £30 it will ask for ID verification (face/fingerprint ID). If verified it becomes unlimited.

Pawnless Endgame · 23 May 2020 at 15:27

Ah I didn't know that about Android/Apple Pay. I thought it was the same limit as contactless which used to be £30 but recently increased to £45.

Angilion · 23 May 2020 at 17:15

Lmg80 said:
Just a heads up; very bizarrely saw a debit for £1 on my account Westminster Parkin Fines London. [..]

Parkin is nice cake. £1 is a good price for a piece of fine parkin.

arknor · 23 May 2020 at 17:42

VincentHanna said:
Indeed

Anytime I pay at the pump for petrol, they initially charge £1 for a few days on the card, until it updates.

I don't get that because the money goes directly as payment processing and on hold unavailable to the bank account owner anyway when you pay by debit card?

or is this some non visa card?

el_dazza · 23 May 2020 at 17:51

arknor said:
I don't get that because the money goes directly as payment processing and on hold unavailable to the bank account owner anyway when you pay by debit card?

or is this some non visa card?

Happens with every type of card when you pay at pump. £1 is basically a pre-authorisation amount then the full amount leaves your bank about 2 days later.

Lmg80 · 23 May 2020 at 19:51

el_dazza said:
Happens with every type of card when you pay at pump. £1 is basically a pre-authorisation amount then the full amount leaves your bank about 2 days later.

Prob why it states max £99.

LeeUK · 24 May 2020 at 03:54

About 10 or 11 years ago my card details got used by someone to book flights via TravelPack. No idea how they got them but I got it refunded. I later found my card details along with my address and landline phone number on some Russian forum. In fact they are still there to this day when I google my landline number. Obviously the card details are no longer valid.