In an unexpected turn of events, one cunning 79-year-old woman in Switzerland used age-old misconceptions to her advantage, tricking her would-be German scammers into getting arrested by the police.

79-year-old woman swindles German scammers

On May 12, a 79-year-old pensioner living in Canton Zug, received a call from someone claiming to be an employee at the local police station. As is the case with many of the scams involving fake emergency services, the faux-police officer informed the woman that her money was no longer safe in her bank and needed to be withdrawn and given to them.

Luckily, the woman immediately smelt a rat, concluding that the officer must be a scammer. However, according to 20 Minuten, instead of hanging up on the scammer as many millions would have, she kept her landline running and hatched an adroit scheme.

The next day as planned, the scammers called the woman's phone, instructing her once again to take her money out of the bank. Much to their delight, she obliged, travelling to her local branch in Cham to take all of her valuables out of her safety deposit box.

German criminals fall for pensioner's ploy

Several phone calls later, a young man showed up at the pensioner's house at 5.30pm, presumably ready to make a run for it with the valuables and add her name to the long list of people swindled by sly scammers. However, much to his surprise, instead of jewels and bracelets, the man was given bracelets of a very different kind, after he was arrested by real police officers as soon as he arrived.

It turned out that the woman had informed the police about the scam and had arranged for the authorities to be there to catch them in the act, a Zug police report revealed. The emergency services were also able to arrest another man in the vicinity related to the crime.

According to the police report, the two are German citizens aged 16 and 21. Criminal proceedings have now been opened against the two suspects.

This article originally appeared on IamExpat in Switzerland.

Thumb image credit: Sjale / Shutterstock.com