Senior citizens need to be wary of emails, phone calls and text messages designed to get them to hand over money or share personal information, an elder fraud expert told UFT retirees at the Retired Teachers Chapter membership meeting in May. Fraud is a booming business, said Anna Diao, chief of the Elder Fraud Unit in the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

A wildlife refuge an outdoor sculpture garden, museums, a tea party and even a wastewater treatment plant are the destinations for in-person Si Beagle Learning Center outings this spring.

Thousands of UFT retirees participate in hundreds of Si Beagle Learning Center courses, seminars, trips and dine-arounds each year.

For the first time since the pandemic began, retirees in September had the option of attending the RTC general membership meeting in person at UFT headquarters and are easing back into in-person events while keeping Zoom options open.

In a world that is increasingly dependent on technology, everyone is a potential victim of fraud. Tens of thousands of Americans fall prey to swindlers each year. But people over the age of 60 are targeted by scammers, often because they are trusting, polite, enjoy good credit, own a home and have financial savings.

The Supplemental Health Insurance Program (SHIP), created by the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter to help members pay for out-of-pocket medical costs, continues to grow in enrollment and to enhance its reimbursement for benefits such as private-duty nursing, ambulance transport and hearing aids.