Apate's AI Agents Pose as Scam Victims to Extract Fraud Intel
Original: Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence
Why This Matters
Proactive fraud intelligence could shift anti-scam efforts from reactive to preventive.
Australian startup Apate.ai deploys thousands of AI agents that impersonate scam victims across calls, messages, and phishing links—wasting 17 years of scammers' time across 2.5 million conversations while gathering actionable fraud data for banks and telecoms.
Founded in 2024 out of research at Macquarie University in Sydney, Apate.ai runs a fleet of AI agents that go undercover as potential fraud victims. The agents answer scam calls, respond to phishing emails and texts, follow suspicious links, and infiltrate social media groups—all while presenting as people of varying ages, genders, accents, and languages to keep fraudsters engaged. The goal isn't just to waste scammers' time (though 17 years across 2.5 million conversations is a notable side effect). The real product is intelligence: bank accounts, crypto wallet addresses, phone numbers, malicious URLs, and the brands being impersonated. That data gets fed to Apate's customers—banks, telecom companies, government agencies, and utilities—who fold it into their anti-fraud operations. The company is a finalist in TechCrunch Disrupt 2026's Startup Battlefield 200. The timing is pointed. The FBI logged over 22,000 AI-related crime complaints in 2025, totaling roughly $893 million in losses, with more than $632 million tied to investment scams where fraudsters use AI to run conversations and deepfake trusted figures. CEO Dali Kaafar credits the idea to a real scam call he strung along for 44 minutes at a family picnic, which made him wonder whether the process could be automated at scale.