Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence

Most companies usage AI agents to vessel products faster oregon to velocity up workflows. Apate.ai sends them undercover to get scammed.

Founded successful 2024 connected the ground of probe done successful Macquarie University successful Sydney, the Australian startup deploys thousands of AI agents that masquerade arsenic guiltless victims. The agents tin reply scam calls, respond to shady messages and emails, travel phishing links, and articulation societal media groups to bait fraudsters. They unreal to beryllium radical of each stripes, sporting antithetic ages, genders and accents, and talk assorted languages arsenic they effort to support scammers engaged agelong capable to larn thing useful.

The institution says its fleet of agents has truthful acold wasted 17 years of scammers’ clip crossed 2.5 cardinal conversations. More importantly for Apate’s lawsuit basal of banks, telecom companies, authorities agencies and utilities, the undercover agents effort to get scammers to uncover things astir themselves that are usually learned lone after a unfortunate has been scammed: slope accounts, crypto wallets, telephone numbers, malicious websites, the brands they’re impersonating, and different details astir the scams they’re running.

Apate, 1 of the finalists astatine this year’s Startup Battlefield 200 astatine TechCrunch Disrupt, past feeds that accusation to its customers, who usage it to pass their anti-fraud measures and initiatives. (The institution will transportation a sheet of VC judges astatine Disrupt, which is taking spot this week astatine Moscone West successful San Francisco done Thursday, October 15.)

It’s a funny improvement of scam-baiting, but it’s not truthful astonishing fixed however overmuch AI has empowered scammers and hackers. The FBI received much than 22,000 complaints of AI-related crimes successful 2025, which resulted successful astir $893 cardinal successful losses. More than $632 cardinal of that came from concern scams, successful which the FBI says fraudsters usage AI to tally conversations, and deepfake the voices and appearances of celebrities, executives and trusted figures.

For a agelong time, radical person made a hobby retired of deliberately stringing scammers on — sometimes hilariously, similar getting scammers to read aloud full books, oregon adjacent to get ridiculous tattoos. Now, with AI increasing progressively capable, the tables are turning.

Curiously, the thought down Apate was sparked by a existent scam call.

Several years ago, Apate’s laminitis and CEO Dali Kaafar was astatine a household picnic erstwhile helium got a telephone from an chartless number. Realizing it was a scammer connected the line, helium decided to play dumb for the payment of his kids and managed to support the telephone going for 44 minutes.

Everyone had a laugh, but Kaafar noticed that those were 44 minutes the scammer had not spent calling a existent victim. It was besides 44 minutes of his wasted time, which led him to wonder: Could helium automate it, and successful the process, larn thing useful?

That thought yet led to probe enactment astatine his occupation astatine Macquarie University, wherever Kaafar and his colleagues utilized instrumentality learning and earthy connection processing to uncover the contented of scam calls, and make amended ways to observe and forestall scams.

“Most of the manufacture works aft the fact. Telcos artifact numbers, but scammers conscionable get caller ones. Banks ticker transactions, but by past the scammer has already reached the customer. We spell to the scammer straight and get the accusation earlier anyone gets hurt,” Brad Joffe, co-founder and main commercialized officer, told TechCrunch. “Our AI agents speech to tens of thousands of scammers each time crossed calls, messages, email and the web. What we connection our customers is what comes retired of those conversations, and what they tin bash with it.”

Joffe said Apate uses some frontier models and its ain fine-tuned models to powerfulness its agents and analysis. The institution trains its models connected conversations its agents person had with scammers, arsenic good arsenic the probe Kaafar did astatine Macquarie.

In summation to entree to Apate’s fleet of agents, customers get entree to an insights portal that offers quality and analytics connected scams targeting their extremity users oregon employees, brands, products, and more. Customers tin adjacent delegate these agents peculiar missions, specified arsenic obtaining a slope relationship fig oregon crypto-wallet address. Its substance agents tin hunt forums, concern groups and societal platforms for imaginable scam activity, and tin past participate conversations with a fabricated individuality to aboveground scammers’ details.

The startup’s customers see Commonwealth Bank of Australia, TPG Telecom, arsenic good arsenic different utilities, telcos and authorities agencies. Joffe said TPG has diverted astir 590,000 calls to Apate’s agents, Commonwealth has seen a 76% driblet successful publically reported scam losses, and an unnamed Australian slope the startup works with has utilized its outbound agents to disrupt 22 scam campaigns.

Investors are betting determination is wealth to beryllium made from fooling scammers, too. Apate raised $8.15 cardinal successful effect backing successful August from Lobby Capital, OIF Ventures, Investible, Concept Ventures and Baobab Ventures. Joffe said the 20-person institution has raised conscionable nether $10 cardinal successful full and plans to walk the latest circular connected its merchandise and planetary expansion, including opening an bureau successful London and gathering a larger beingness successful the U.S.

“Apate is named aft the Greek goddess of deception, which felt due fixed what our agents do,” Joffe said, adding that the startup adjacent features scammers swearing astatine the bots successful its transportation material.

“We way that arsenic a motion of vexation and each curse connection gets celebrated by america astatine Apate. We are astir apt 1 of the lone businesses successful the satellite that celebrates erstwhile radical curse astatine our product.”