COEUR d'ALENE - An 84-year-old Coeur d'Alene woman fell for a scam, realized it, and quickly took steps to stop anyone from stealing her money.

The resident received a phone call about 11 a.m. Monday from someone saying he wanted to help her receive a medicard, but needed checking account information first.

The woman said she spoke to three or four people, who transferred her back and forth, before she hung up.

The callers were persistent, though.

"They'd call me back just as quick as I hung up," she said.

Eventually, they wore the woman down and convinced her to give them checking account numbers. They said they didn't want her Social Security number, as that was too valuable to give out over the phone.

The conversation lasted about 45 minutes.

"It went on and on. Before I knew it, they had the numbers they needed," she said. "I hung up and realized what I'd done."

The woman called her neighbor, who told her to call police. Police told her to call her bank and cancel the account.

She did.

"So they couldn't take anything out of it," she said. "I didn't lose any money."

The woman worries other elderly area residents could fall for the scam. She said the callers knew her address and that she was a senior citizen. She felt the callers bullied her into giving up secured information. She admitted she doesn't think as clearly as she did 10 years ago.

"I was befuddled," she said.

She said that a few years ago, she received a call from a company explaining she could win prizes if she signed up for magazine subscriptions.

"Before I knew it, I was signed up for five or six magazines," she said.

The woman was thankful to her neighbor, police and bank for helping her, and hopes younger citizens take time to look after elderly neighbors.