Johannesburg - A 54-year-old man from Midrand in Johannesburg is behind bars after being arrested for allegedly scamming a senior citizen out of thousands of rand, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, said on Sunday.

The suspect was arrested on Friday after he allegedly scammed an elderly lady out of at least R500 000 under the pretense that she was buying a vehicle, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said in a statement.

The Hawks serious commercial crime investigation unit launched an investigation after they were approached by a nutrition distributor on Tuesday who claimed that she was approached by the suspect who showed interest in her products.

She presented him with an invoice and account details and, to her surprise, exactly R300 000 was subsequently deposited into her business account instead of the R1073 as agreed. She contacted the Midrand South African Police Service (SAPS), who passed the matter to the Hawks for further investigation, Mulaudzi said.

"On Friday, the investigation team managed to trace and identify the source of the R300,000. The 72-year-old senior citizen informed the team that she transferred R500,000 - R200,000 and R300,000 - to two different accounts for a new vehicle."