Apate uses AI agents to draw out details from scammers
By Automate Basics, written with AI from TechCrunch's original
Apate uses AI agents posing as potential victims to engage suspected scammers and collect details about their operations. TechCrunch reports that banks, telecom companies and other organisations can use those findings in their fraud work.
What changed
Apate sends AI agents into conversations with suspected scammers to gather details that fraud teams can use, TechCrunch reports. The agents can answer calls, respond to messages and email, follow phishing links, and enter online groups while posing as potential victims.
Apate says its agents try to keep conversations going long enough to identify bank accounts, crypto wallets, phone numbers, malicious sites and brands being impersonated. The company passes findings to customers through an insights portal with information about scams targeting their customers, employees, brands or products. Customers can also give agents a specific objective, such as seeking a bank account or wallet address. The practical difference for a fraud team is a source of information gathered during scam conversations, rather than only after a victim reports a loss.
Who can use Apate's scam agents?
Apate's service is aimed at organisations responsible for preventing fraud, not individual workers trying to answer a suspicious call. TechCrunch reports that its customers include banks, telecom companies, utilities and government agencies. The article names Commonwealth Bank of Australia and TPG Telecom among its customers.
For someone in a fraud, security or customer protection role, the relevant offering is access to Apate's agents and the resulting insights portal. TechCrunch does not say whether the service has named plans, how an organisation signs up or what it costs. It also does not describe a version that an individual employee can use independently. If your organisation is considering the service, those availability and pricing details would need to come from Apate.
How do I try Apate at work?
A fraud team considering Apate could start with one recurring scam affecting its customers or employees. TechCrunch reports that customers can give the agents a defined objective, such as finding a bank account or crypto wallet used in a suspected scam. That offers a narrower question to investigate than simply asking what scams are circulating.
Review the resulting details against reports and procedures your team already uses. Check whether an account, number or site is connected to the suspected campaign before treating it as evidence for an anti-fraud measure. The article describes the kinds of information Apate collects, but it does not set out a validation process or say how often an agent's findings lead to action. The useful first test is whether the findings give your team something specific it can check.
Frequently asked questions
What do Apate's AI agents do?
Apate's agents pose as potential victims and engage suspected scammers through calls, messages, email and online spaces. According to TechCrunch, they aim to draw out details such as phone numbers, bank accounts, crypto wallets and malicious sites, which Apate then makes available to organisational customers.
Can an individual employee sign up for Apate?
TechCrunch describes Apate as a service for organisations such as banks, telecom companies, utilities and government agencies. The article does not describe an individual sign-up option, named plans or a price. A worker interested in using its findings would need to check what their organisation can access.
Can a fraud team choose what Apate investigates?
Yes. TechCrunch reports that Apate customers can assign agents a particular objective, such as obtaining a suspected scammer's bank account or crypto wallet address. The article does not explain the setup process or how customers verify the details agents return.
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Written with AI from TechCrunch's original and published after automatic checks: every figure here appears in the original, and no sentence is copied from it. The picture is AI-generated. The original is the authority.
Source: Apate sends AI agents undercover to get scammed so they can gather fraud intelligence, TechCrunch, 14 Oct 2026.