Apate Deploys AI Agents to Collect Scam Intelligence
Australian startup Apate.ai deploys thousands of AI agents that pose as potential scam victims to gather fraud intelligence before criminals reach real people. Founded in 2024 on research conducted at Macquarie University in Sydney, the company says its agents have consumed 17 years of scammers’ time across 2.5 million conversations.
The agents can answer scam calls, reply to suspicious messages and emails, follow phishing links, and enter social-media groups. Apate gives them fabricated identities with different ages, genders, accents and languages, with the aim of keeping fraudsters engaged and extracting details useful to banks, telecommunications providers, government agencies and utilities.
Intelligence gathered during scam attempts
Apate’s agents seek information that is often discovered only after a victim has been defrauded. This can include bank-account details, crypto-wallet addresses, phone numbers, malicious websites, the brands being impersonated and other attributes of active campaigns.
Brad Joffe, Apate co-founder and chief commercial officer, said the company approaches scammers directly rather than relying solely on defences after contact has been made or a transaction is already under review. The company says its agents communicate with tens of thousands of scammers daily across calls, messages, email and the web.
Customers receive access to the agent fleet and an insights portal with analytics on scams aimed at end users, employees, brands and products. They can also give agents defined assignments, such as obtaining a bank-account number or crypto-wallet address. Apate’s text agents can search forums, investment groups and social platforms for potential fraud, then enter discussions under a fabricated identity.
Models, customers and reported results
Apate uses frontier models alongside its own fine-tuned models for agent interactions and analysis. Its training draws on scam conversations collected by the agents as well as research by founder and CEO Dali Kaafar and his colleagues at Macquarie University, where they applied machine learning and natural-language processing to scam-call content, detection and prevention.
The startup lists Commonwealth Bank of Australia and TPG Telecom among its customers. Joffe said TPG has diverted nearly 590,000 calls to Apate’s agents. He also said Commonwealth has recorded a 76% reduction in publicly reported scam losses, while an unnamed Australian bank used outbound agents to disrupt 22 scam campaigns.
The approach comes as AI is also being used by fraudsters. The FBI received more than 22,000 complaints of AI-related crimes in 2025, linked to about $893 million in losses. More than $632 million came from investment scams, where the agency said criminals use AI in conversations and deepfake the voices and appearances of celebrities, executives and trusted figures.
Funding and expansion plans
Apate raised $8.15 million in seed funding in August from Lobby Capital, OIF Ventures, Investible, Concept Ventures and Baobab Ventures. Joffe said the 20-person company has raised just under $10 million in total and intends to use the latest funding for product development and international expansion, including a London office and a larger US presence.
For businesses facing impersonation and social-engineering fraud, Apate’s model illustrates the value of collecting actionable indicators while campaigns are active, so anti-fraud teams can update controls before a scam reaches more customers or employees.