A 26-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man each pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Thursday to providing a commercial passenger service when their vehicles were not registered to do so.

The offences date from July, when the Commercial Passenger Vehicle Victoria - the regulatory body for taxis, hire vehicles and rideshare services - conducted an undercover operation in Bendigo with the help of police.

The operation targeted a Facebook group called Bendigo lifts 4 cash, through which members - of which there were about 10,700 - offered transport in exchange for cash, usually $5 to $20.

During the operation, two CPVV officers posed as passengers and organised transport with people offering lifts for money through the Facebook group.

Read more: Bendigo drivers fined for offering illegal rides for cash

On the night of July 19, the undercover officers contacted the woman and agreed on a lift for $10.

During the ride, police intercepted the woman, who provided her details.

A CPVV officer checked the details and confirmed the woman's vehicle was not registered to provide commercial passenger services.

Later that same night, the officers took a lift for $15 from the man who faced court on Thursday.

He too was intercepted and checks revealed he was also not registered with the CPVV.

Both the man and the woman received infringement notices of $1983 the following month, but chose to have their matters heard in court.

The woman told the Bendigo Magistrates' Court she was working few hours at the time and did not realise the activity was illegal.

Read more: Cash rides crackdown to continue

Once she found out, she said, she stopped immediately.

The man told the court he had been off work ill and needed the money, but had since removed himself from the page and stopped offering the illegal service.

Magistrate Sharon McRae told the offenders that such activity put both them and their passengers at risk.

Ms McRae said they would find themselves potentially uninsured and liable for significant costs should a crash occur while they were taking money to provide transportation illegally.

"It all sounds good on Facebook, it sounds great... But if things go wrong, you'd find yourself in a very, very poor position," Ms McRae told the woman.

A driver operating such a service illegally, she said, might have to pay extensive medical costs should a passenger be injured as they would not have the appropriate insurance.

"Is that $15 ride worth the risk of financial ruin?" she asked the man.

The woman told the court she was looking for work and asked for a good behaviour bond.

Read more: Police, taxis slam 'lifts for cash' schemes

CPVV senior prosecutor Edward Bourke-Lacey said deterring other people from similar offending was an important factor to consider in sentencing, but made no submission on the woman's request.

Ms McRae took into account the woman's age and her honesty about her offending, and sentenced her to a 12-month undertaking to be of good behaviour, without conviction.

The woman must also pay $250 to the court fund.

In the interests of consistency, the man faced the same sentence.

The 'Bendigo lifts 4 cash' Facebook page is still in operation and now has more than 11,000 members.

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