Apate deploys AI agents to bait scammers for fraud intelligence
Apate.ai, an Australian startup founded in 2024, uses AI agents to impersonate potential victims and engage scammers in calls, messages, and social media interactions. The agents gather details like bank accounts, crypto wallets, and malicious websites—information typically only obtained after a victim is scammed. Apate’s fleet has logged 2.5 million conversations, wasting 17 years of scammer…
Key points
- Apate’s AI agents simulate victims to engage scammers in calls, messages, and social media, extracting fraud details like bank accounts and crypto wallets
- Clients—including TPG Telecom and Commonwealth Bank—use Apate’s intelligence to block scams before victims are targeted, with TPG diverting 590,000 calls
- Startup raised $8.15 million in seed funding and plans international expansion, leveraging frontier models and proprietary AI trained on real scam data
The company’s approach stems from research at Macquarie University, where founder Dali Kaafar observed how AI could automate scam-baiting after a 44-minute call with a scammer during a family picnic. Apate’s AI agents use frontier models and proprietary fine-tuned models, trained on real scam conversations. Customers like TPG Telecom report diverting 590,000 calls to Apate’s agents, while Commonwealth Bank saw a 76% drop in publicly reported scam losses. The startup raised $8.15 million in seed funding in August and plans to expand internationally, including offices in London and the U.S.
The story so far
2 episodes →- Apate deploys AI agents to bait scammers for fraud intelligencethis story
Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence
TechCrunch AI · 14 October 2026
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