At least nine Victorian tourist attractions have been hit by a credit card scam targeting Chinese visitors, costing the industry hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

How the scam works The perpetrator posts cheap discounted tickets on the Chinese version of Facebook called WeChat

The perpetrator posts cheap discounted tickets on the Chinese version of Facebook called WeChat They accept payment and keep the money

They accept payment and keep the money Then they purchase a legitimate ticket using a stolen credit card and send the ticket to WeChat customer

Then they purchase a legitimate ticket using a stolen credit card and send the ticket to WeChat customer Later the owner of the stolen credit card reports it to the bank and seeks a refund

Later the owner of the stolen credit card reports it to the bank and seeks a refund The tourist operator is forced to give the refund and provide a service that has not been paid for Source: VECCI

The scam involved fraudsters using stolen credit cards to purchase tickets to the tourist attractions, then on-selling them at a reduced cost via Chinese social networking site WeChat.

Chinese inbound tourism has become the most lucrative market for Australian tour attractions.

Once the banks that issue the credit cards recognise the fraud, the tour operators are left with no choice but to refund the cost of the ticket purchase — which is still valid for the tourist to use.

The complex nature of the cyber security breach meant the fraud was difficult for operators to detect and tourism officials said several operators had been hit without knowing.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) chief executive officer Mark Stone said the scam was first detected two months ago but he believed it could be continuing to affect tour operators across the country.

"We've spoken to nine operators and this scam has cost them $400,000, but it is probably much more because it's likely many operators are unaware of this scam and have therefore been caught out," he said.

"Eureka Skydeck, Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs and Sovereign Hill have been hit but that's just the tip of the iceberg.

"We've discovered that this is not only universal, but it's rife and it's clearly being targeted at our number one inbound tourist."

Both the Eureka Skydeck and Sovereign Hill confirmed to the ABC their businesses had been hit to the tune of thousands of dollars.

'Huge' Chinese online ticket market

John Forman, the general manager of Eureka SkyDeck, said his company had been forced to repay $22,000 worth of tickets and 13 per cent of online ticket sales in the last month had been fraudulent.

"We're all getting robbed, it's very hard to stop," he said.

"We've spoken to Victoria Police. It's hard for them and banks to stop so we're in a conundrum at the moment to stop it effectively."

Eureka Tower's Skydeck is one of nine Victorian operators to be impacted by the scam. ( Kristian Parrott: User submitted )

The chief executive of Sovereign Hill and the former chairman of Victoria's Tourism Council Jeremy Johnson said the scam had been almost impossible to detect.

"The Chinese online ticket sale market is huge," he said.

"It's hard to keep across all of it. It's a very hard crime to prevent. You can't just go down to the police station and report it."

Mr Johnson added it may have also affected family-owned businesses that operated smaller tours.

"It doesn't matter how big or small the operator is," he said.

"When you have tens of thousands of dollars going missing that's a significant hit for the business."

Several tour operators have reported the crime to the police and it is believed they were investigating.