Sydney, July 27 - An Indian journalist working undercover to expose migration and education scams in Australia was assaulted over the weekend following which officials Monday raided the office of an agent allegedly involved in exploiting foreign students.

The Immigration Department said the raid took place in the central business district here, but did not identify the agent.

ABC News Online reported that the woman was attacked possibly because of her work. She was working on a report for the Four Corners programme.

'The woman was subjected to threats during the making of the programme and attacked over the weekend. Police have been notified,' ABC Online said. The journalist was not identified by name.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the attack took place near the ABC studios in the Inner-Sydney suburb of Ultimo.

The reporter went to two migration agents posing as someone wanting to pass an English language test without having the skills and told them that she was willing to buy fake work certificates.

She learnt she could do both if she paid between $3,000 and $5,000.

Executive producer of ABC news Mark Bannerman told Times Now: 'For six to eight weeks we have been working on a story to try and understand the real state of the Indian... foreign students education market in Australia.

'The much more severe problem was the way they were in fact being treated by immigration agents and the colleges they had enrolled at.

'We began a pretty hefty investigation and the use of an undercover reporter... What we uncovered was a range of scandals within the industry.'

Bannerman said the undercover reporter received phone threats indicating that 'she would not be safe'.

'Then on the weekend she was actually physically attacked on the street. We believe that potentially possibly because of the work she had been doing.'

There have also been at least 19 incidents of attacks on Indian students or their property in Australia since May 9. The attacks, in Melbourne and Sydney, have caused an uproar in India.

There are about 90,000 Indians studying in Australia.

The student victims have said the incidents seemed racially motivated.

Gautam Gupta, adviser to the Federation of Indian Students of Australia, said about the attack on the reporter: 'It is an unfortunate attack... Most people are shocked.

'Our organisation has received threats in the past. I have personally received threats. It is a disconcerting development.'

The Four Corners programme aims to 'expose a number of cases where students (coming to Australia) have lost tens of thousands of dollars', ABC Online said.