True crime fans: no agony aunt can help with romance scams, but accountants can. 

Romance scams are frauds that not only break hearts, they destroy bank accounts. In this podcast, our experts use real-life case studies to reveal the heartless tactics deployed and show you how to unveil a fake relationship. 

Tune in now.  

Host: Jacqueline Blondell, Editor, CPA Australia

Guests:  Former deputy chair at the ACCC, Delia Rickard spent a decade fighting scammers. She currently sits on the board of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Dr Cassandra Cross is an associate professor in the School of Justice at Queensland University of Technology. She has been researching fraud victimisation for more than a decade.

Alastair MacGibbon is chief strategy officer at CyberCX. He’s has spent 20 years in the cyber security space, including as a former special advisor to the Australian Prime Minister on cyber security.

Research, scripting and editing: Susan Muldowney

Studio production and sound editing: Garreth Hanley

Additional research and scripting: Jacqueline Blondell

If you want to know more about romance frauds, including those discussed in this episode, check out these news articles:

• Romance fraud losses Scams robbed Australians of more than $2 billion last year | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (accc.gov.au)
• Dating app responses Tinder, Match Group rolls out campaign to stop romance scams | Mashable
• Simon Leviev 'The Tinder Swindler' True Story: Where Is Simon Leviev Now? (esquire.com)
• Thai case  Thailand's biggest romance scam snagged a chief financial officer and convinced her to steal millions - ABC News
  
• Florida case Florida woman accused of scamming Holocaust survivor out of $2.8m in dating site fraud | The Independent
• Reverse image https://www.labnol.org/reverse/
• The West Australian https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/wa-farmer-loses-life-savings-to-catfish-scam-ng-b881800123z
• The Tinder Swindler https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/who-is-tinder-swindler-real-shimon-hayut

CPA Australia publishes three podcasts, providing commentary and thought leadership across business, finance, and accounting: 

• With Interest
• INTHEBLACK
• Excel Tips

Search for them in your podcast app. 

You can email the podcast team at podcasts@cpaaustralia.com.au