(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Bankers Association president and C-E-O Adam Gregg says the most surprising thing he’s learned in his first five months as the organization’s leader is the extent of the scams and fraud Iowa banks and their customers are dealing with. Gregg — who resigned as Iowa’s lieutenant governor in September to lead the Iowa Bankers Association — cites an Aspen Institute analysis.

“57,000 Americans are scammed every day, which is enough to fill a baseball stadium and they’re scammed of enough money to build that stadium,” Gregg says. “That’s $430 million every day from 57,000 Americans every day.” The Bankers Association has launched an anti-fraud education campaign, with a Valentine’s theme.

“We’re in the season of love and two things we’re highlighting right now: Beware of romance scams and practice safe checks,” Gregg says. “Want to make sure you heard that correctly — it’s www.practicesafechecks.com. It has really good information, like using the right type of pen when you do need to write a check.” Using a gel ink pen makes sure that if the check is stolen, the ink can’t be washed off.

One of Gregg’s friends had a check stolen from the mail, the check was washed and the thief was able to use the blank check for another purchase. Gregg says there are many other ways to pay bills, like direct deposit and, if it’s a large amount, your bank should be able to handle the transaction electronically. As for romance scams, Gregg says some are run by organizations in North Korea and China that find information about someone online, contact that person and try to convince them there’s an emotional connection.

“But then ultimately what they do is they get them to transfer funds and those funds immediately go outside the country. It becomes very difficult, if not impossible to recover those funds,” Gregg says. “…Those funds, had they just stayed in Iowa, would have been used for better purposes.” Another Bankers Association initiative encourages people to just hang up when someone calls and starts asking about personal financial information. The website is BanksNeverAskThat.com.