The 'brazen' new social media trend which appears to glorify crime

A disturbing new TikTok trend has come to Australia, which involves young people filming themselves allegedly committing crimes and then sharing the footage on social media for glory.

Now victims and psychologists have spoken out in fear the behaviour will only continue to escalate, unless some drastic measures are taken to stop the promotion of youth crime.

"They're just so brazen," Glenn Geary told A Current Affair, after a gang of young people broke into his home and robbed him and his wife Sue Geary in the middle of the night.

READ MORE: Aussie restaurant with bad manners on the menu goes global

"You could see they were on their phones and filming it the whole time," Mrs Geary said.

Mrs Geary said she was sleeping downstairs at their house on Newcastle's south coast when she woke to noises.

"I got up and could hear running and I got up and I could see four thieves that were running upstairs," Mrs Geary said.

READ MORE: Bollywood star opens up about drastic life change after moving to Australia

After realising someone was in their home they called police and Mr Geary then checked their security cameras.

"It showed them coming into the house with gloves and masks and everything like that," Mr Geary said.

And within minutes, the thieves made off with cash, keys, laptops and Mrs Geary's handbag, which was full of cash because she hadn't had a chance to make it to the bank.

READ MORE: 'Didn't even get a phone call': Father of recovering toddler left on a bus speaks out

The security footage also showed one of the alleged thieves with his phone out.

It appeared he was filming the entire robbery.

"You've got people like this coming into your house to get their five minutes of fame on something like TikTok and whatever forum they're using and the domino effect of that is disgusting," Mrs Geary said.

Police are investigating the Geary robbery, along with several others in the area, as the terrifying TikTok trend has emerged.

The "creeping while you sleeping" (sic) hashtag on a social media platform has videos of young Aussies allegedly glorifying serious crimes which include high range speeding, breaking into property and police pursuits.

"It's almost like trying to outdo each other," Mr Geary said.

"But one day someone will wake up, they'll walk into them and who knows what could happen," Mrs Geary said.

"Someone could get seriously hurt or worse, killed."

Child psychologist Dr Rose Cantali said TikTok gangs seem to be sensationalising bad behaviour to kids who may not feel important at home.

"A lot of these kids never get a chance to be able to feel important so if that's the only way they're going to feel important, that's what they're going to do," Cantali said.

"They are going out and they're terrorising people and we really need to do something about it.

"These young people become adults - they go to jail.

"They learn new skills and so we have to address it."

Statement from a TikTok spokesperson:

"Safety is our top priority, which is why TikTok prohibits and removes content that promotes or enables criminal activities and makes reports to law enforcement when warranted. We remain vigilant in our commitment to countering such content and encourage our community to report potential violations of our Community Guidelines." - TikTok Spokesperson