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ShareSYDNEY: A close friend of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin condemned as un-Australian on Saturday the behaviour of people trying to profit make a quick buck from his death.
A 20-year-old woman was convicted for selling fake stickers of the late crocodile wrangler and telling people it was to raise money for his Wildlife Warriors fund, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Irwin, 44, was killed on September 4 when a giant stingray punctured his chest with one of its lethal barbs as he filmed a new television show about the world's deadliest ocean creatures on Queensland's famed Great Barrier Reef.
On Saturday, suspicious shoppers at a Gold Coast shopping centre alerted security guards to a woman and a 16-year-old girl who were selling the stickers for between three and five dollars, Australian Associated Press said.
The teenager was cautioned and the 20-year-old woman convicted and fined 200 dollars (150 dollars US) in the Southport Magistrates Court early Saturday.
Irwin's long-time friend and manager John Stainton said Irwin would have been "absolutely appalled" at the fraudulent behaviour.
"The fact that people are cashing in, so to speak, on his legacy, trying to sell stuff like that for fundraising supposedly or even resale of the tickets for the memorial service," he said.
"All of those things are really just not on and they're just not Australian."
Irwin's fans snapped up tickets for his memorial service within 15 minutes on Friday. Hundreds of admirers camped out overnight for the tickets even before they went on offer for next Wednesday's public memorial service.
Queuing fans were "exceptionally well-behaved", police said, despite the fact hundreds were turned away after tickets to the 5,500-seater "Crocoseum" at Irwin's Australia Zoo in the northeastern Queensland state ran out.
Irwin was laid to rest at a private ceremony at his zoo last Saturday.
