Int'l fraudsters sell Melbourne transport passes loaded with stolen money

International fraudsters have been exposed with stealing millions of dollars from credit cards and loading the funds on to Melbourne transport passes to sell on the black market.

Public Transport Victoria (PTV) announced on Tuesday it had been forced to refund 3 million U.S. dollars to international credit cardholders since the scam, which involves transferring the stolen money on to Melbourne's Myki transport payment system, began operating in 2012.

"Cybercrime is a worldwide problem and like many other businesses across Australia, PTV has been a victim to fraudsters targeting online transactions," a PTV spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since May this year, PTV has paid more than 35,000 U.S. dollars back to those who have been swindled.

Transport users who buy the illegal cards on the black market have been warned they risk being ruled invalid if detected.

"As soon as PTV is aware of a fraudulent transaction they will immediately remove any remaining balance from the related Myki card funds and block the card from further use," the spokesperson said.

PTV chief executive Mark Wild assured commuters their account funds were not in jeopardy of theft as a result of using its system.

"We came under significant attack by these international fraudsters in the late part of 2013, early 2014."

However, new detection mechanisms have decreased the amount of fraudulent activity by 95 percent since their introduction last year, according to the company.

Wild said PTV had repaid the millions out of there own pocket.

Victoria police has advised PTV of the scam's details but are unable to investigate further due to the offenses being committed overseas, outside of Australia's jurisdiction. Endi