Apate.ai sends undercover AI agents to deceive fraudsters
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Founded in 2024 from research at Macquarie University in Sydney, Apate.ai deploys thousands of undercover AI agents to answer scam calls, respond to suspicious messages and emails, follow phishing links, and join social media groups. They adopt different ages, genders, accents, and languages to keep fraudsters engaged and obtain details such as bank accounts, crypto wallets, phone numbers, malicious websites, and impersonated brands.
The company says its agents have so far wasted 17 years of scammers’ time across 2.5 million conversations. Banks, telecommunications companies, government agencies, and utilities use the data to inform anti-fraud measures. The idea began after CEO Dali Kaafar kept a scam call going for 44 minutes; his later university research helped develop the technology. The FBI received more than 22,000 complaints of AI-related crimes in 2025, resulting in about US$893 million in losses.
Why it matters · editorial interpretation
The case suggests that AI agents can serve as an operational layer of defense by sustaining long interactions and collecting fraud signals across multiple channels—an approach that could complement anti-fraud measures at banks, companies, and public agencies. Because the results were disclosed by Apate.ai itself, their scale should be interpreted cautiously.
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