AI Bots Keep Scammers on Phone for 2+ Hours

While scammers have been using AI to supercharge their crimes, the good guys just got the same upgrade.

Apate, an Australian company named after the Greek goddess of deception, has built an army of 350,000 AI bots designed to be irresistible targets for phone scammers. These digital decoys answer calls, join scam chat groups, and respond to fraudulent texts with one mission: keep criminals busy so they can't reach real victims.

"A minute that a scammer is talking to a bot is a minute where you're probably saving hundreds, if not thousands of possible people being reached out to," says Dali Kaafar, Apate's founder and CEO. The company works with banks and telecom providers to intercept scam attempts before they reach vulnerable people.

The bots don't just pick up and waste time. They act convincingly human, complete with different personalities, language skills, and even realistic quirks. Some have WhatsApp accounts, others don't. Sometimes they hang up saying they'll call back later, just like a real skeptical person would.

Kaafar says scammers regularly stay on calls with Apate's bots for more than two hours. When journalists tested a demo version by playing the scammer role, they spent six minutes trying to pitch a cryptocurrency investment to an AI named "Lucy" and her financial adviser "Mickey." They failed completely, finding the experience intensely frustrating as the bot expressed just enough interest to keep the conversation going without ever falling for the pitch.

The system has already collected over 250,000 pieces of real-time intelligence about fraudsters, including scam URLs, money mule accounts, and bank details that can help law enforcement track criminal operations.

The Ripple Effect

This technology represents a major shift in fighting cybercrime. For years, governments struggled to stop scammers operating across international borders. Professional "scambaiters" who manually waste scammers' time have done important work, but they're vastly outnumbered by criminals who send billions of fraudulent messages annually.

AI changes the math. Now defenders can match scammers' industrial scale with their own automated army. Researchers at ETH Zurich found that AI-powered "honeypots" keep hackers engaged significantly longer than traditional traps, convincing them they've found real targets worth pursuing.

Banks, social media companies, and law enforcement agencies are using similar AI tools to share intelligence and disrupt criminal networks. Some efforts even include psychological operations that directly troll ransomware attackers, exploiting their own vulnerabilities.

You'll probably still get scam calls, but knowing an invisible army of bots is fighting back 24/7 makes the future look a little brighter.