Australia's booming aboriginal art market is open to manipulation, and artists and consumers are being exploited, the Australia Broadcasting Corp. reports.

Four Corners, Australia Broadcasting Corp.'s current affairs television program, on Monday reported that it found a group of mostly elderly aboriginal artists working and living in fenced-in blocks of land around Alice Springs.

Another group of artists produces more pictures from a highway motel, Four Corners reported.

Critics say the facilities are sweatshops and, in some cases, virtual prisons for the artists.

Unethical aboriginal art dealers are commonly called carpetbaggers in Australia.

Four Corners broadcaster Quentin McDermott said most insiders are afraid to speak publicly about industry practices.

Dealers and auction houses make millions of dollars from aboriginal art, he added.

Last year, a report on an Australian Senate inquiry into exploitation of aboriginal artists found only anecdotal evidence that artists are working in sweatshop conditions.

But the Four Corners report alleged that little money from sales ends up in the artists' hands and that many paintings have been sold through one business, potentially distorting the market.

With files from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation