AI Bots Are Now Wasting Phone Scammers' Time

According to WIRED, anti-fraud groups are using AI bots to keep phone and text scammers busy by pretending to be possible victims. That matters at home because scam calls, texts and chat messages are still getting through, even as banks, telecom companies and researchers try new ways to slow criminals down.

What happened

WIRED reported on Apate, an Australian company that has spent the last two years building AI personas that answer scam calls, reply to scam texts and enter scam chat groups. The goal is not to help a real person negotiate with a scammer. It is to waste the scammer’s time and collect useful details about how the scam works.

According to WIRED, Apate says its platform is used by banks and supported by telecom companies. The company says it has about 350,000 bots and has gathered more than 250,000 pieces of information from fraud activity, including scam website links, money mule accounts and bank details.

The bots are designed to act like different kinds of people, with different languages, habits and levels of suspicion. WIRED reported that the system tries to keep criminals engaged long enough to reduce the number of real people they can reach and to gather intelligence that can be shared with organizations fighting fraud.

This is a defensive tool aimed at scammers, not a replacement for household safety habits. WIRED also noted that cybercriminals still send huge volumes of calls and messages, and that large scam operations continue to grow.

Who is affected

Any household that receives unexpected calls, texts or online messages about money, accounts, deliveries, tolls, investments or emergencies should pay attention. The article does not name one specific scam campaign, company breach or group of victims.

The practical takeaway is simple: some scammers may now lose time talking to bots, but your family can still receive the next call or message. The source does not say when or where Apate’s tools are available to individual consumers, and it does not describe a consumer app that households can install.

What to do now

1. Let unknown callers go to voicemail. If the caller claims to be a bank, government office, delivery company or tech support team, hang up and use the official website or app to contact the organization yourself.

2. Do not click links in surprise texts about packages, tolls, refunds or account problems. Open your browser or the company’s official app and type the address yourself. CyberSec24 has a plain-language guide to common QR, toll-text and package scams.

3. Make a family rule for urgent money requests. If someone says they are a relative in trouble, call that person back on a known number and use a family safe word before sending money. Our family safe word setup guide can help you set one up.

4. Warn older relatives and teens that AI can now be used on both sides of scams. The same technology that can waste scammers’ time can also make fake messages and voices sound more convincing. For voice scams, review our AI voice cloning scam playbook.

5. Report suspicious messages instead of replying. Forward scam texts to 7726 if your mobile carrier supports it, use the report option in your messaging app, and report fraud attempts to the service the scammer is impersonating.

6. Treat pressure as a warning sign. A real bank, government agency or delivery company should not demand gift cards, crypto transfers, remote computer access or instant payment during a surprise call.