Victoria’s public transport authority has had to pay back more than AU$1 million after its ticketing system was hit by an online scam.
Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is urging commuters to buy myki public transport cards from authorised dealers, or risk them being blocked, after an online scam in which money was stolen from foreign credit cards.
The stolen money was then used to top up myki cards, which were onsold to commuters for a reduced price, often on sites such as Gumtree or eBay.
It is has so far cost PTV around AU$1.1 million, the Herald Sun reported on Thursday.
PTV director of customer services Alan Fedda said credit card holders had reported odd transactions to their banks, who in many cases paid the money back.
“So what occurs in that instance is the risk is then transferred to PTV and then we have to pay for that charge back to the customer,” he told Fairfax radio on Thursday.
Fedda said that the criminal activity had been reported to Victoria Police, and PTV has the ability to match up sold myki cards against the credit cards that purchased them, and block those that were bought using stolen credit cards.
“It’s a pretty clear message to customers, which is ‘always buy your myki from an authorised reseller’,” he said.
“If you see a myki for sale on eBay or Gumtree for less than its value, it’s generally too good to be true, and chances are we will block that myki from use.”
He said that PTV has fraud protection software in place and has already recorded a 70 percent reduction in the value of fraudulent transactions, with more enhancements coming within weeks.