Victoria Police have charged a 36-year-old woman in relation to graffiti spray-painted across a Melbourne suburb that urged a person named Chris to “talk 2 me b4 baby is born”.

The widespread tagging went viral on social media on Tuesday, before it was quickly removed.

The same message, in the same purple writing, was painted across public spaces in the foreshore in south-eastern suburban Frankston: “Chris u need 2 talk 2 me b4 baby is born, or dont bother after.”

Photos of the message posted to The Frankston Community Noticeboard Facebook page were shared more than 10,000 times in just a few hours, while comments on the post climbed quickly over 24,000.

“Chris … Can you please just call her before she destroys the whole city?” the post said.

Thousands of people have shared the photos. Photo: Facebook/Frankston Community Noticeboard

“Don’t forget if you see graffiti, you can report it to council via Snap Send Solve,” it said, referring to an app to report maintenance issues.

On Wednesday, Victoria Police said they had arrested a Frankston woman, and charged her with criminal damage, wilful damage, marking graffiti and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

The woman, whose name has not been released, has been bailed to appear at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on December 13.

Frankston Mayor Michael O’Reilly said on Tuesday the council was alerted to the graffiti by residents’ reports.

One of the page’s admins, who did not want to be named, said the photos were “just a tongue-in-cheek post”.

“I posted it because I get p—ed off at what ratepayers are spending in the community and the money could be better spent on.

“Frankston works really hard to have a good reputation and it’s annoying when this happens.”

Some of the photos were submitted to the Facebook page by Frankston locals. Photo: Facebook/Frankston Community Noticeboard

They said they were surprised by the “immense” reaction to the photos, which had reached about 3 million people.

Despite the post going viral, the page admin said no one had come forward to identify themselves as Chris or the graffiti artist.

Cr O’Reilly urged people who witnessed illegal behaviour to report it to police.

“I hope Chris and this mystery person can work through their issues, and in the future, refrain from undertaking illegal activity that bear a cost to ratepayers,” he said.

-with agencies