AI Agents Pose as Victims and Waste 17 Years of Scammers' Time

Australian startup Apate, built on research from Macquarie University in Sydney, runs thousands of AI agents that pose as scam victims. They answer scam calls, reply to shady texts and emails, track phishing links, and play all kinds of ages, genders, and accents to burn scammers' time. Across 2.5 million conversations, they have wasted 17 years of scammers' time. Instead of cleaning up after the fact, these agents trick scammers into sharing bank accounts, crypto wallets, and fake websites. Clients include Commonwealth Bank and TPG Telecom. TPG has passed nearly 590,000 calls to the agents, and Commonwealth Bank's reported scam losses dropped 76%. The company raised $8.15 million in seed funding this August, with total funding near $10 million, and plans to open a London office and grow in the US. The FBI got over 22,000 AI-related crime complaints in 2025, with about $893 million in losses, showing the real need for this kind of proactive defense.