A TWEED resident has warned others to be on alert after the creepy crown craze sweeping Australia struck the Tweed on Saturday.

Bilambil Heights resident Abby Cornish was shocked when she spotted someone dressed in a clown suit and wearing a pig mask standing outside her Terranora Pde home at about 1pm on Saturday.

"I was home alone doing housework and I looked out the window and he was standing there,” Ms Cornish said

"He was just standing there, like he was just trying to get attention from passing cars.”

Ms Cornish said she was at the time unaware of the craze and had brushed it off as a neighbourhood kid playing a prank.

"I thought it was just kids having a bit of fun with a costume and thought it was just a bit of Halloween coming early,” she said.

The clown craze, which is sweeping the world, spread the United States with the first Australian sightings reported on Thursday night in Grafton and Gladstone.

Since then people dressed in clown outfits have been spotted at numerous sites across the nation.

Some of the clowns have been armed and have engaged in threatening behaviour, prompting police in Australia to intervene.

Ms Cornish said now she was aware of the craze and was conscious of the significant impact it could have on the community.

"My 10-year-old son came home and saw the photo and was scared,” she said.

"He said 'what if he comes back, and what if he's outside the window?'

"I didn't tell him about the clown craze and played it down but it's instilling a new fear in our children and we will have another generation scared of clowns.”

Police are taking the situation seriously and while dressing like a clown is not against the law, anyone engaging in in intimidating and threatening practices and any anti-social behaviour will be investigated.

Ms Cornish said that while she wasn't scared by the sighting, everyone's reactions would be different.

"These people need to stop it for their own safety also,” she said.