Has Banksy Just Been Caught On Camera In Melbourne?

Notoriously elusive street artist Banksy has reportedly been caught in the act, right here in Australia.

A smart phone-wielding street wanderer has apparently captured the international man of mystery on camera, flinging paint into a new mural in Melbourne’s Hosier Lane, before uploading it to the YouTubes.

“So I was walking home from work late last night and I was watching a street artist doing a piece in Hosier Lane,” the user, known only as Mia S, tells Crave Online via email. “I doubled-back [sic] and pulled out my phone as he was finishing up.  I’m pretty sure it was Banksy!”

And sure enough, the video footage shows her approaching someone as they work on the piece (an homage to our beloved political leader Pauline Hanson FYI), running after them yelling “BANKSY!” after they spot her, and then being promptly told to “Fuck off” as the hooded individual and an apparent accomplice both piss-bolt out of dodge.

If this is, indeed, Banksy, then the fact that the enigmatic art-ninja has finally been caught on film is KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

However, the circumstances of the whole thing could be considered ever so slightly suspect.

With a huge unauthorised art exhibition featuring over 80 Banksy pieces set to open in Melbourne’s Federation Square – just a stone’s throw from Hosier Lane – this Friday, a video purporting to catch the mythically stealthy paint-baron in the act just days prior to its launch seems like a convenient bit of underground promo.

Add to that, Broadsheet did some sleuthing of their own and traced Mia S’s email account to a LinkedIn profile for a Melbourne-based social media professional who works in “media and strategy”.

So yeah, the video is almost certainly a big fat phoney.

Anyway, take a gander below and judge for yourself, Banksy watchers.