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A Presto unit on a streetcar photographed November 15, 2012.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail

Metrolinx is warning the public about a scam involving the Presto fare card, which is currently being rolled out across the Toronto transit system.

The regional transit agency, which administers Presto, says it has been hearing about customers losing hefty amounts of money when trying to buy a used card from a reseller.

"We want to hear from people, because we want to know the extent of the problem," said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

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Presto functionality is due to be installed on all Toronto Transit Commission vehicles and at all of its stations by the end of the year. It is already in use by GO Transit and by the small transit agencies in the 905 region. But Toronto's residents will be by far the biggest group of users once the system is fully in place across the city, offering a large population for scammers to target.

The card has had a long gestation and its development included a series of problems. But this latest issue is not due to a security breach, Ms. Aikins said.

She explained that the scam involves a person buying a Presto card, loading it with as much as $500 and then offering it for sale at a discount, under the guise of it no longer being needed. The seller typically meets a prospective buyer at a transit station and uses one of the verification machines to show that the money is indeed loaded on the card.

But what the buyer doesn't realize is that the card had earlier been registered to the seller, allowing him or her to report it lost or stolen after getting paid, thereby freezing the funds.

"This is a scam, don't fall for it, you'll lose your money," Ms. Aikins said. "Only buy from an authorized retailer."

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