Apate.ai uses AI agents to lure scammers and gather fraud intelligence

Banks and telecoms are using the startup’s decoys to divert scam contact and cut reported losses.

Apate.ai is using AI agents as decoys to engage scammers, collect fraud intelligence, and feed that data to banks, telecoms, utilities and government customers. The Australian startup, founded in 2024 from research at Macquarie University, says its agents have spent 17 years of scammers’ time across 2.5 million conversations and are designed to extract details such as bank accounts, crypto wallets, phone numbers and malicious websites. Its customers include Commonwealth Bank of Australia and TPG Telecom, with TPG said to have diverted nearly 590,000 calls and Commonwealth said to have seen a 76% drop in publicly reported scam losses. Apate also reported that an unnamed Australian bank used its outbound agents to disrupt 22 scam campaigns, and it raised $8.15 million in seed funding in August to support product work and expansion. The company says it has raised just under $10 million in total and plans to open a London office and build a larger U.S. presence.