AI Anti-Fraud New Angle: Proactively Getting Scammed to Extract Fraud Intelligence for Regulators to Shut Down

BlockBeats news, October 17 — Australian AI anti-fraud startup Apate.ai (originating from research at Macquarie University in Sydney, founded in 2024) has recently drawn attention. The company deploys thousands to approximately 350,000 AI agents, disguised as ordinary victims of different ages and accents, answering scam calls around the clock, replying to phishing text messages, clicking malicious links, and infiltrating scammer group chats.

The core task is to play dumb and stall for time, extracting intelligence such as scammers' bank card numbers, crypto wallets, and fake websites, then packaging it and providing it to banks and telecom companies for blocking. The company says it has completed over 2.5 million conversations, cumulatively occupying about 17 years of scammers' working time, and extracted more than 250,000 pieces of actionable intelligence.

The company's clients include Commonwealth Bank of Australia, TPG Telecom, and others, with some institutions publicly reporting significant declines in fraud losses. In August 2026, Apate.ai completed an $8.15 million seed round (led by Lobby Capital), bringing cumulative funding to nearly $10 million, and is advancing global expansion, including establishing a London office and strengthening its U.S. presence.