Friends With Money #254: Love, lies and money
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Romance scams are evolving fast, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) wants Australians to recognise the warning signs earlier.
On this week's Friends With Money podcast, managing editor Vanessa Walker speaks with ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe about the regulator's romance scam awareness campaign and why these crimes cause serious financial loss and long-lasting emotional harm.
Lowe explains that romance scams involve fake relationships designed to steal money and personal data. They often start on dating apps or social platforms before quickly moving to encrypted messaging services. She outlines two common scam models, fast investment pitches and long-running "slow burn" requests, and reveals Australians reported more than $28.6 million in losses to Scamwatch through 2025.
The episode also explores the ACCC's taskforce approach, a new online relationship health check tool, the incoming scams prevention framework for banks, telcos and digital platforms, the role of organised crime and trafficking, and how AI could help defeat reverse image searches.
00:30 What are romance scams?
02:42 How big the losses are
04:45 How scams move online
06:18 Industry crackdown tools
07:49 Scams prevention framework
11:13 Who runs these rings
13:47 AI and future scams
16:08 Who is most at risk
19:02 Warning signs and next steps
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Friends With Money is a weekly personal finance podcast by Money magazine, offering expert insights on investing, budgeting, superannuation, property, and other money strategies for everyday Australians.
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