Love, lies, and money

Romance Scams: ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe on Red Flags, AI Risks & How to Protect Yourself | Friends With Money Romance scams are evolving fast, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 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 ddefeat reverse image searches. Links: ACCC Scamwatch 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 Podcast Links: Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Money Website YouTube Podcast Playlist Email Us: podcast@moneymag.com.au Get stories like this in our newsletter: bit.ly/3GDirbR

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Love, lies, and money is an episode from Friends With Money by Money Magazine.

This episode is 23:20 long.

This episode was published on May 6, 2026.

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