GoKawiilAustralian startup Apate deploys AI bots to tie up phone and text scammers
Apate, an Australian company founded by Dali Kaafar, has spent two years building a system that routes scam calls to AI bots designed to keep fraudsters talking indefinitely without ever falling for the con. The company says it now runs roughly 350,000 bots that also infiltrate scam chat groups and respond to fraudulent texts, and the platform is used by banks with support from telecom companies.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Kaafar frames the approach as creating 'the perfect victims' to waste scammers' time, which could reduce the number of real people reached given scammers' reliance on automated dialing. The effort reflects a broader shift toward using AI defensively against AI-driven fraud, since governments have struggled to prosecute cybercriminals operating across borders.
- Apate uses AI bots to keep scammers on calls and chats without ever being defrauded
- The company reports around 350,000 bots deployed across calls, texts, and scam chat groups
- Banks and telecom companies reportedly support or use the platform to gather intelligence on scammers
Source: wired.com — Lily Hay Newman, 2026-10-10
Published there as: “AI Is Getting Really Good at Messing With Cybercriminals”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.