Observed Signal · Oct 12, 2026 · Product Launch · Source: t3n · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI Bots Waste Scammers' Time to Combat Fraud
Australian security firm Apate has developed an AI-powered system using approximately 350,000 bots to combat telephone and messaging scams. These bots engage scammers in lengthy conversations, impersonating various personalities to waste their time and reduce the time available to target real victims. Some conversations last over two hours. The AI agents also infiltrate scam groups online, collecting over 250,000 pieces of intelligence on fraudulent activities and responsible individuals, including bank account details. CEO Dali Kafaar stated that every minute a scammer talks to a bot potentially protects hundreds or thousands of people from being contacted by the same scammer. Despite these efforts, the scale of the problem is immense, with an estimated 68 billion scam calls worldwide annually. The bots represent a novel approach to fighting fraud using AI.
This article showcases an innovative application of AI in cybersecurity, which is relevant to the adtech/martech ecosystem as it helps protect consumers and platforms from fraud, a growing concern in digital advertising. The scale of the issue (68 billion scam calls) underscores the importance of AI-driven defense mechanisms.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Apate has deployed ~350,000 AI bots to engage and waste scammers' time.
- AI agents have collected over 250,000 intelligence data points on scam operations.
- Some bot conversations with scammers last over two hours.
- There are an estimated 68 billion scam calls worldwide annually.
- Apate's bots also infiltrate online scam groups.
Connected Companies & Entities
1 Entity mapped“With an estimated 68 billion scam calls worldwide annually (via Truecaller).”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
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AI Beats Scammers by 'Playing Dumb'
The article describes how conversational AI and on-device detection tools are being used to disrupt phone-based social-engineering scams by exploiting scammers' psychological models. It profiles 'Daisy,' an O2-built conversational AI persona that wastes scammers' time by posing as an elderly target, and outlines platform-level measures such as Apple iOS 26's call screening and Google’s on-device AI scam detection for Android. The piece highlights a broader shift from static rule-based fraud models toward adaptive AI systems (including Mastercard’s Consumer Fraud Risk) that score transactions and monitor conversational cues in real time. It also notes limits: many calls originate from trafficked operators in organized crime syndicates, and technology alone cannot address governance, labor and enforcement aspects. The author argues that deliberate friction — a pause that restores user deliberation — is a valuable UX design principle in fraud prevention.
10-Day AI Voice Agent Stops Scam Calls
A developer built 'Suraksha Saathi', an AI voice agent prototype to help families detect and respond to scam calls in 10 days. The agent uses Deepgram for speech recognition, a Google Gemini model for reasoning, Murf AI's Falcon TTS for fast speech output, and LiveKit for real-time connectivity. Features include Hindi support via Devanagari-only output, a consent-based memory to remember callers, a panic button that alerts a human fraud team via Discord, real-time scam tracking dashboard, and mid-call voice-engine handoffs to escalate to an investigator persona. The author published the post on DEV and shared source code on GitHub.
ScamAdviser Showcases Agentic AI Safeguards at Anti-Scam Summit
ScamAdviser, a leading provider of enterprise scam prevention solutions, concluded its participation in the GASA Global Anti-Scam Summit America 2026 in San Francisco. The company highlighted the growing threat of agentic AI, where autonomous agents are targeted by scammers. CEO Aaron Chiou moderated a panel with experts from Google, Gen, AIM Intelligence, and Adyen, discussing how AI agents are becoming primary targets. ScamAdviser presented AgentLooker.ai, a real-time security tool designed to protect AI agents from scams during dynamic web interactions. Additionally, the company's Watchmen product received the GASA Scam Fighter Award for its contributions to global brand impersonation protection. Watchmen uses continuous monitoring, multi-layer filtering, expert rule engines, and LLM-based semantic analysis to detect and remove fraudulent content, achieving a 38% reduction in financial losses from investment scams and reducing detection-to-takedown times from weeks to under 8 hours.
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