The unnamed 65-year-old woman had been at home in the town of Boguszów-Gorce in southwest Poland when she received a call from somebody pretending to be a policeman.
Telling her that her money was not safe, the crook then tried to convince her to leave the cash on a fence where it would be collected by the authorities and taken to a safe place.
But, suspecting the man was not a bona fide police officer, the shrewd pensioner decided to turn the tables on the scammer and catch him in the act.
After pretending to agree to follow the man’s instructions for the money transfer, she prepared a fake money bag by filling it with old crossword puzzles and an apple.
She then contacted her local police station, where officers quickly set up an ambush to catch the man red-handed.
Police spokesman Marcin Świeży said: “The woman did not let herself be fooled and she herself fooled the scammers.
“Instead of cash, she hung a shopping bag on the fence with an apple and a crossword puzzle inside.
“Of course, she had previously informed the real uniformed officers about the attempt to extort cash from her, and they prepared an ambush and detained the 40-year-old when he was receiving the package.”
He added: “The police will never call with information about an operation or ask you to transfer money, transfer it to an account or leave it somewhere.
“If you receive such a call, you can be sure that it is a fraudster.
“Hang up immediately and notify the police.”
The 40-year-old extortionist has now been charged with fraud and faces eight years in jail.
