#scams

Australian startup Apate.ai, spun out of Macquarie University research, runs thousands of AI agents that pose as potential victims: they answer scam calls, reply to phishing messages and join scam groups, in many languages and voices. The company says its agents have wasted 17 years of scammers' time across 2.5 million conversations, and that the goal is to extract bank accounts, crypto wallets, phone numbers and impersonated brands, which it sells to banks, telcos, governments and utilities. Apate was a Startup Battlefield finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt; the article cites FBI figures of more than 22,000 AI-related crime complaints in 2025 with about $893 million in losses.