Australians told to be wary of scammers in wake of Bourke Street tragedy

Australians have been warned to be wary of scammers trying to take advantage of the Bourke Street tragedy.

Five people have died after Dimitrious Gargasoulas, 26, allegedly drove his car through the pedestrian-only section of the Bourke Street shopping mall in Melbourne at high speed last Friday, hitting dozens of pedestrians.

In the wake of the tragedy, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced a fund for the families of victims, to which the state and federal government contributed 150,000 U.S. dollars, and invited Australians to donate to the fund.

As official donations to the fund topped 640,000 U.S. dollars on Tuesday night, reports emerged that fraudsters were taking advantage of the tragedy for their own profit.

A woman told Melbourne radio station 3AW that she was nearly scammed by someone claiming to be collecting money for the Bourke Street Fund.

The caller, known only as Mel, said she received a call from a man claiming to be from the City of Melbourne asking about her bank and credit card details.

When Men questioned the caller, he hung up.

"I said, 'well I'm going to ring up and check.' And he said, 'you can check,' And I said, 'this call is being taped,'" Mel said in comments published by Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

Scammers also set up similar systems in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires in February 2009, the worst ever bushfires in Australia in which 173 people were killed.

Victims and witnesses of the incident on Bourke Street will also be entitled to compensation from the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) and WorkSafe Victoria. Endit