A Brisbane teenager has been charged over the "stupid" creepy clown craze.
The 15-year-old was arrested in Brisbane's south about 9pm Tuesday night after police allegedly found him standing in the street wearing a clown mask and brandishing a knife.
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Clown stalkers are 'stupid'
People dressed as clowns to scare people in south east Queensland are being treated by police as a "threat to the community". 7 News Queensland
It's understood he was standing outside his family's Inala home and told police he was just trying to scare his sister.
Police charged the boy with public nuisance and unlawful possession of a knife.
He will be dealt with under the Youth Justice Act.
The Queensland government previously indicated police would take a zero tolerance approach to the craze, which Police Minister Bill Byrne said was a worrying drain on police resources and was gaining momentum at an "extraordinary level".
In State Parliament on Tuesday, he took aim at the craze, telling the house it was a "dangerous and stupid notion" that ought to be condemned.
He indicated police would take a zero-tolerance approach to clowning.
"Police resources need to be spent on going after hardened criminals and all that goes with it," he said.
The charge came as the Gympie Times reported a mother's concerns over a creepy message received from the gympie_clown Instagram account.
"My daughter received a message on Instagram today from someone calling themselves gympie_clown asking her if she wanted to play a game," the mother said.
"I reported this to police, will be showing them tomorrow."