Samantha Azzopardi found in Bendigo, accused of stealing two girls

Samatha Azzopardi, 31. Photo / news.com.au

Police have charged a woman with child stealing, swooping on the alleged fake au pair while she was with two kids at a shopping centre.

A mysterious au pair is behind bars accused of stealing children and faking documents to gain work.

Samantha Azzopardi, 31, was arrested at Pall Mall in Bendigo about 1.30pm on Friday.

She was located with two girls who are aged four and 10 months.

"It's alleged the woman forged documents to gain employment as an au pair," Victoria Police said in a statement on Sunday.

Pictured in Dublin. Photo / Supplied

Police confirmed to news.com.au the woman was working as the girls' au pair at the time.

Azzopardi was charged by detectives from the Bendigo Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team with two counts of child stealing and stating a false name.

Detectives also charged the 31-year-old with handling stolen goods.

She was allegedly found with a passport and driver's licence in July that had been stolen from a Brighton East woman last year.

The alleged child thief, who police said is of no fixed address, was remanded in custody to appear in Bendigo Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

Sydney woman Samantha Azzopardi was charged in Canada. Photo / Calgary Police Service

Both girls were returned uninjured to their parents and the investigation is ongoing.

It was revealed in July that a couple from Brighton East in Melbourne's southeast claimed they were victims of fraud after hiring an au pair to look after their daughter for a year.

In a post on Facebook, they said a woman had told them her name was Harper Hernandez but they now believed she was "serial con artist" Samantha Azzopardi.

The family also alleged Azzopardi had run off with the mother's "identification documents".