When Geneva Marcus got a phone call from a Texas number about her Medicare card, she immediately became suspicious.

And as the call progressed, things weren’t adding up.

Marcus said the female caller, who spoke with a foreign accent, asked if she was Geneva Marcus.

“She said ‘I’m sending you a new Medicare card.’ I asked why and she didn’t answer,” Marcus said. Instead, the caller asked Marcus to verify her address and then asked for the name of her bank.

“She said ‘To verify that you are the senior person, I need to know what the name of your bank is.’”

Marcus told the woman she didn’t give out that information.

“She was insistent. She kept asking for the bank name. I said goodbye,” and hung up the phone, she said.

A call to Medicare confirmed for Marcus that the agency was not issuing new cards.

AARP spokeswoman Karin Miller said Marcus did exactly the right thing.

“That particular scam cropped up last year. I haven’t seen anything like this specific to Tennessee (but) it has been happening on occasion around the county,” she said.

“I’m really proud to hear the woman was smart and alert and quickly realized this was a scam. We need more people like her to step forward,” Miller said.

“This was an attempt to steal this woman’s identity and try to get money off of her. It’s reprehensible.”

Miller said people should “never, ever provide personal information to anyone over the telephone. Medicare does not request information like that over the telephone and neither does any reputable organization.”