Apate.ai uses AI agents to talk with scammers and gather fraud clues

In short: Apate.ai says it sends AI agents to interact with scammers so it can collect useful details about scams before real people lose money.

What happened

Apate.ai is an Australian startup founded in 2024, based on earlier research at Macquarie University in Sydney. The company builds and runs large numbers of AI agents, which are software “bots” that can hold conversations like a person.

Apate’s agents pretend to be potential victims. They answer scam phone calls, reply to suspicious texts and emails, click phishing links (fake links meant to steal information), and join social media groups where scams are discussed. The goal is to keep scammers talking, like a decoy phone number that wastes time, while also collecting evidence.

Apate says its agents have taken part in 2.5 million conversations and have wasted a combined 17 years of scammers’ time. More importantly for customers, Apate says the agents try to get scammers to reveal information such as bank account numbers, crypto wallet addresses (a place to store digital money), phone numbers, scam websites, and the brands the scammers are pretending to represent.

The company sells this intelligence through a customer portal to banks, telecom companies, government agencies, and utilities. Apate says customers can also give agents specific “missions,” such as trying to obtain a particular payment detail that could help stop a scam.

Apate is a finalist in TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield 200. The company has raised $8.15 million in seed funding and says it plans to expand internationally, including opening an office in London.

Why it matters

Scams are increasingly automated, and some use AI to run convincing conversations. Tools like Apate are trying to flip that around by using automation to learn about scams earlier, so organizations can block payment routes and warn people before money is gone.

Source: TechCrunch AI