A woman has been arrested by Bidhannagar police for allegedly posing as a “super antique metal delivery agent” attached to Nasa and duping people with false claims of supplying the metal to the American space agency.

Police said Madhumita Saha, the accused, was allegedly collecting money from people in the city and elsewhere with the promise of lucrative returns on investments in the “antique metal” business.

Saha, a resident of the airport police station area, was arrested based on a complaint lodged by a resident of Haryana.

Narendra Singh wrote in his complaint lodged with Narayanpur police station, in the Bidhannagar commissionerate area, that Saha had swindled him out of more than Rs 1 lakh by convincing him to invest in a business of supplying a “super antique metal” to Nasa.

“According to the complainant, he met Madhumita Saha through a social media network,” an officer said.

Saha had purportedly convinced Singh that people who were investing in the business were getting back double the amount in return, the officer said. Singh had paid Saha thinking he was investing in the project to supply metal to Nasa.

“He said he realised only recently that he had been duped, after the woman stopped answering his calls,” an officer said.

Saha has been remanded in police custody for 12 days.