40p paid into bank account from unknown source. Start of a scam?

[Snozzlemaid]

We've received 40p in our bank account a couple of days ago and we've no idea why.
Transaction name is RBS repayment and is showing as a counter credit.
This is not an RBS account and we don't bank with them.
Has anyone heard of such a thing being the start of a scam or am I just being paranoid?

I had 17p removed by someone unknown (I didn’t notice) and Santander contacted me as it was flagged up as a scam by them. The guy from Santander said that scammers often do tiny transactions to see if they go undetected before moving in for the kill.

I had a small 'amazon' transaction i hadnt done. Bank blocked it from any future payments. Following day about 20 bank notifications saying payment blocked and to call if it is me trying to make a payment. They were disguised as amazon.

Thankfully i spotted the small one to start with. Under £10 the bank refunded it

I use amazon but always use dh bank for it. Had it of been his account i probably wouldn't have noticed

Unlikely to be a scam with a low value credit into your account.

Could be many reasons. Do you or have you ever had any RBS products? Could be an old credit card that RBS have decided to close and it was in credit by 40p or an amount left on an old loan account. It could also be historical overcharging of interest that RBS has decided to refund. I had similar with Barclaycard but it was more than 40p!

Quick google showed this result from RBS’ website:

If you have received a payment into your account with a reference starting REM, this will relate to a refund of fees/charges taken in error on a product you have or have had with us. Depending on the value, we may have written to you about this error, including what product was impacted and when. You do not need to contact us or do anything else about this.

I had 31p charged from Amazon Australia, when I contacted my bank they said it is normally how scams start, they charge a testing small amount to test if the account is “suitable”. When I mentioned this to the bank they took it very seriously, canceled my card immediately and sent me a new one.

If you have set up a new Paypal account or similar it could be a test payment to link your current account. They often then ask you to tell them how much the credit was.

Or interest from a savings account or they've closed a dormant account and transferred the money over. I was confused by small amounts appearing in my account until I realised it was from an NS&I savings account I'd opened where the interest was going into the current account instead of compounding in the savings account.

Scams usually work by making a small payment from your account, eg making a small purchase when they have your debit card details, before trying to buy something like a laptop or gift cards.