ASX down after Trump announces Canada tariffs

Hello and welcome to the Only Money podcast. It's Friday, the 11th of July. I'm Stephanie Yousaf filling in for Ricardo Goncalves. Today, the ASX closed 0.1% lower. I'll have a bit more on that in a moment, but first, the consumer watchdog has set up a task force known as a fusion cell to target romance scams, which last year were the second.

Stephanie Yousaf

Most financially damaging type of scam in Australia behind investment scams. The unit will bring together dating and social media industry representatives as well as law enforcement and financial institutions to better understand and disrupt the scams. I spoke with ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe.

Catriona Lowe

The National Anti-scam.

Catriona Lowe

is announcing the launch of our 3rd fusion cell, focusing on romance scams. Fusion cells are effectively time-limited task forces that bring together experts from across the ecosystem to help target and disrupt particular scam types. In this instance, romance scams.

Stephanie Yousaf

And why do we need a taskforce? How much do Australians lose to romance scams and are we seeing an increasing trend?

Catriona Lowe

Romance scams are consistently the scam type that Australians report losing the second highest amounts of money to, second only to investment scams. We also have seen in our recent data that romance scams are, in fact, one of the fastest growing scam types, causing losses. In 2024, across the scam.

Catriona Lowe

Ecosystem, Australians reported losing nearly $157 million to these scam types. Of course, in addition to the significant financial losses with these scams, consumers also experienced the emotional devastation of losing what they thought was a genuine new relationship.

Stephanie Yousaf

What will the taskforce actually do? So

Catriona Lowe

the taskforce is going to focus its efforts in two key areas. Firstly, deeply understanding the anatomy of these scams, such that we can experiment with different techniques to disrupt the scams and stop.

Catriona Lowe

Actually reaching their victims in the first place. The other important element of work of the fusion cell will, in fact, be to work with victims and academics and experts to help develop resources. We often hear about these scams, not from the victim themselves, but from family.

Catriona Lowe

And friends, because they are often the people who will spot some of the signs that someone who is deeply emotionally invested might miss. So we are helping create resources for what we know can be really important, but really difficult conversations for people to engage in.

Stephanie Yousaf

Do these scammers tend to target certain groups of people?

Catriona Lowe

These criminals are experts at targeting, really lovely parts of human nature. There is nothing wrong, obviously, with wanting a new relationship. And so people who are seeking that sort of relationship are vulnerable to these sorts of scams.

Catriona Lowe

We do also see particular demographic groups overrepresented, in our reporting data. So people who are over 35, people from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, First Nations, Australians, and people with a disability are some of the people we see overrepresented, in our data.

Stephanie Yousaf

And how accurate is that data? Could they be more prevalent than we think because we rely on people to actually report them, but there could be feelings of shame or embarrassment preventing some from doing so.

Catriona Lowe

We know that shame can be a real factor for many scam victims in terms of coming forward and reporting their experience. And indeed, with romance scams, it can be a particular feature, that the scammer will see.

Catriona Lowe

To isolate their victim from family and friends and supports. So that barrier can be even greater, in relation to these sorts of scams. But we are really saying to victims or to family and friends of victims,

Catriona Lowe

It helps us enormously to have those pieces of intelligence, those small pieces of data that may, you may have gleaned through your engagement with a scammer can actually help us stop them and stop them reaching other victims. There are also really good supports.

Catriona Lowe

Available for people who are experiencing, or needing to recover from these scam types. So there's a lot of good reasons for people to come forward and talk about what's happening, that is actually undermining the scam by taking that action of talking about it.

Stephanie Yousaf

What are some signs or red flags people should look out for and what are some tips to avoid these scams?

Catriona Lowe

So, scammers will utilise, in the first instance, common dating and social media platforms, but one of the red flags is that the new relationship will try and move you off that dating platform or app into an encrypted.

Catriona Lowe

Conversation, it makes them harder to trace. So that's a red flag. Certainly, any requests for money from someone you've only met online is also a red flag. We see two key types where this happens. One, is a long-term romance scam, where the scammer may ask for small.

Catriona Lowe

Amounts over a really long period of time, sometimes months or even years, before asking for a much more significant sum arising from a so-called emergency. The other scam type we typically see in this area, is more related to an investment opportunity in those.

Catriona Lowe

instances more quickly, typically within a couple of weeks, the scammer will seek to introduce discussion about an investment opportunity often in cryptocurrency. If either of these things are happening with someone you are engaged in online, it is a sign to be extremely cautious.

Catriona Lowe

There are some good things consumers can do to help protect themselves and indeed to check. So often a scammer will utilise someone else's photo, for their online profile. So there is a great technique called a reverse image search, which can tell you if an image has been used in a

Catriona Lowe

Number of places online, again, big red flag, if you are seeing that source, of multiple image use. Lastly, we ask consumers to remember three keywords to always help protect themselves from scams, and they are, stop, check, protect.

Catriona Lowe

Stop, cause the scam is going to try and create a sense of urgency. Check that you really know who you're dealing with and protect. If something feels wrong, make that report to scamwatch and contact your bank as soon as possible if you've paid money.

Stephanie Yousaf

That was Catriona Lowe, deputy chair of the ACCC. Turning to the Australian share market now, which did see-saw a bit today as strong gains by the miners offset losses in other sectors. Materials were the only sector to end in the green, the ASX shedding 9 points. I spoke with Marcus Bogdan, chief investment officer at Black.

Stephanie Yousaf

More capital about how Donald Trump's announcement of 35% tariffs on Canada affected activity. Well,

Marcus Bogdan

the ASX 200 is virtually flat today. The only sector that is up is materials resources, which is up over 2%. The notable laggards for the market today have been consumer discretionary.

Marcus Bogdan

And technology and property trusts. So materials are definitely the stand out and that's been driven by the iron ore miners BHP, Rio, and Fortescue, all of which are up over 2% on higher iron ore prices.

Stephanie Yousaf

We've seen Donald Trump's announcement of a 35% tariff on Canada influence trade, and the Aussie dollar, which hit its highest levels since November overnight, started reversing after that announcement. Was this expected?

Marcus Bogdan

Well, I think we're getting used to the fact that we're seeing surprises every day from the Trump administration, and so the market has become immunised in terms of

Marcus Bogdan

These changes in terms of the countries that he's calling out in terms of tariffs and also the level of tariffs and the fact that he keeps on pushing out the date and changing almost on a daily basis. So I think the greatest surprise would be stability and particularly around the policy that he has on tariffs.

Stephanie Yousaf

Trump says he plans to impose blanket tariffs of 15 to 20% on countries that don't receive a letter by August 1st, and that could include Australia if we're unable to secure a lower figure before then. What kind of impact could this have on markets, or are we immunised as you mentioned?

Marcus Bogdan

Well, I think so far it's been surprising how little we've actually seen on any impact on the tariffs and the, both the equity markets and the bond markets have been relatively resilient and stable throughout this period. Apart from the initial shock of liberation day.

Marcus Bogdan

However, it is the coming months which will be the real test and whether all of these tariffs are actually implemented and the level of what those tariffs will be, and that could include impacts in terms of global economic growth, particularly the impact that it would see on the US. It could see a spike up in inflation.

Marcus Bogdan

Pressure there on employment and also more concern around the level of interest rates, but at this stage it's been very little evidence of what the impact is going to be. And another criteria to think about is that the

Marcus Bogdan

Tariff increases can be potentially effective in 3 different groups. The first group is the manufacturer, the second group is the group, the company that is actually receiving the goods, and the third group is the consumer. Now the tariff increase may be affected across each of those groups and all of that will have a different impact on the end result.

Stephanie Yousaf

Is there any company news that's catching your attention today?

Marcus Bogdan

Well, it is interesting that despite all of the global uncertainties we're seeing, particularly around tariffs and interest rates and economic growth, there has been a pickup in M&A activity and IPO activity. And today we're seeing John Ling has agreed on the $1 billion takeover by private equity.

Marcus Bogdan

And the other news is that the rare earth companies such as Linus and Eleka are also quite strong as well, given the great concern that particularly the US and Australia has in terms of sourcing sufficient rare earths.

Stephanie Yousaf

And what are you telling your clients right now and where are the opportunities for investors?

Marcus Bogdan

Well, I think the most interesting opportunities are in those areas that haven't really been of a great strength over the last year or so. We've seen financials in particular and technology leading the markets higher, but underneath that there have been key sectors that have really.

Marcus Bogdan

struggled and they have been things like resources and health and healthcare and it's interesting that since the beginning of this new financial year since the 1st of July, we have seen an improvement there, particularly on the resources side, and that's evident today with materials sector being up over 2%.

Stephanie Yousaf

That was Marcus Bogdan from Blackmore Capital.

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This SBS on the Money podcast is provided for informational purposes only. The content on this podcast should not be understood as constituting advice or a recommendation. It is not personal advice and does not consider your personal circumstances or objectives. You should contact a licenced professional before making any financial decision.

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