MUNICH – Fraud alarm at MVV! The Munich Transport and Tariff Association (MVV) unexpectedly halted the sale of Deutschland-Tickets on December 2nd. Customers who wanted to start a subscription (€58) via the app were unable to do so—instead, they saw a warning on their screens: “Unfortunately, due to fraud attempts, we have had to proactively suspend the sale of new Deutschland-Tickets,” the message on mobile phones stated in part. MVV has approximately 55,000 Deutschland-Ticket subscribers monthly.
MVV: “There Have Been Fraud Attempts Using Stolen Login Data”
Fraud attempts? What exactly is happening? An inquiry was made to MVV. A spokesperson there reported: “There have been fraud attempts using stolen login data that were obtained elsewhere or from other systems and do not originate from MVV sales systems.”
MVV has “been in contact with police investigative authorities” regarding this matter, the spokesperson added. Incidentally, according to her, these fraud attempts were spotted by specially trained MVV staff. They check “in addition to the standard security mechanisms for the ticket shop” also manually review “the previous day’s bookings daily in order to detect possible anomalies as early as possible and, if necessary, cancel them or—as in the current case—temporarily disable the purchase option in the ticket shop.”
Suspension of Deutschland-Ticket Sales in Munich: Existing Subscriptions Not Affected
Whether MVV customers were affected, and how many, was not specified by the spokesperson: “If we find that MVV customers have been affected, they will be informed immediately by us.” MVV also clarified: “Existing subscriptions are not affected by these restrictions.”
In this context, the spokesperson warned against using the same password for multiple services. “Since fraudsters often try to use login data from various services as well as commonly used passwords, we have, among other things, directly within the MVV app urged our customers to choose a unique, secure password for each service.”
It is unknown exactly when MVV customers will be able to purchase the Deutschland-Ticket via the app again. “Presumably, purchasing the Deutschland-Ticket will become possible again during this week,” the spokesperson noted. “As soon as that happens, we will inform our passengers immediately.”
And for those in a hurry who can’t wait at all? The €58 ticket can be purchased not only in Munich, for example from MVG or Deutsche Bahn, but also from any public transport provider across Germany—even in Berlin. It is still valid throughout the entire country.
Source: MVV
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