Medicare Users: Do Not Give Out Your Information on the Phone or to Door to Door Salesperson

I think the advice in the headline is so insulting to senior citizens that I hate to repeat it.

But the good government (goo goo) types keep telling us that we seniors are stupid and more susceptible to scams than smart people like them. So let me repeat some other good advice your mother or father gave you 60 or 70 years ago:

"Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper."

The Worcester Telegram is reporting this morning October 12 that the Mass Bankers Association is warning against a scam involving "Medicare direct deposits." But the link in the Telegram's story does not take you to the Mass Bankers Association (MBA) web site or to its Facebook page. I went directly to the MBA web site and found nothing. Then I found its Facebook page which said this:

"Seniors in Massachusetts are receiving phone calls and being told that their Medicare direct deposits will be stopped unless they supply their bank information for verification. The phishing fraud may be effective because of concerns about a possible government default stopping their payments."

Hmm? Worcester Telegram and MBA, what seniors are receiving these calls where?

And -- more important -- what's a "Medicare direct deposit?" (Do they mean a Medicare insurance premium direct withdrawal? For Part B, D or C or Medigap? Or are they just saying the scammers are as stupid as we seniors are supposed to be?)

I am not susceptible to a scam but I am confused. So just for the record,

"Medicare Users: Do Not Give Out Your Information on the Phone or to Any Door to Door Salesperson"