Myki fraud scheme prompts new safeguards and investigation

“We’d encourage passengers to register their myki cards where possible, and the government must urgently investigate this issue and ensure that cardholder funds are protected.”

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Opposition public transport spokesman Matthew Guy said Victoria’s myki system was outdated.

“The government has been told about this for a long time and they’ve done nothing,” he said on Saturday.

“It’s fine to have shiny new bridges and new trains. But when you’ve got a ticketing system that is from the 1990s, that’s now compromising people’s data, it’s time to actually focus on that as a priority.”

Guy said he didn’t trust the state government’s estimate that only 14 cards had been affected.

The detection of the fraudulent scheme comes amid a request from the new operators of Victoria’s long-troubled myki system, seeking more money from the state government to deal with technical roadblocks and cost pressures.

Trials of an upgraded public transport ticketing system were expected this year, but sources said new operator Conduent was struggling with key deadlines and negotiating variations on its contract with the government.

Victoria signed a 15-year $1.7 billion contract with Conduent in May last year. The US-headquartered firm took over running myki from the system’s previous operator, NTT Data, in December.

Conduent has pledged to deliver transport users the ability to touch on with bank cards and to expand mobile myki to Apple phones, an upgrade which has been promised since 2019.

On Thursday, Premier Jacinta Allan said upgrading the network was a complex task, and included rolling out 23,000 new devices on the public transport network to deliver new ticketing technology.

Another key public transport contract for Melbourne’s metropolitan rail network has been extended until 2027, pushing back the bidding process until 2026.

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