In a national first, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) has launched a new strategy to combat phone and text scams by using artificial intelligence to turn the tables on scammers. Through a collaboration with cyber-intelligence firm Apate.ai, thousands of AI-powered bots now engage scammers in real time to gather intelligence and disrupt their operations.
“These bots flip the script,” said James Roberts, CommBank’s General Manager of Group Fraud. “Every minute a scammer talks to a bot is a minute they’re not targeting an Australian.”
The AI bot fleet, developed by Apate.ai, a Macquarie University spin-out, is designed to mimic human conversation convincingly. Deployed via dedicated telephone numbers intentionally targeted by scammers, the bots interact with scam callers and gather near real-time insights that CommBank uses to enhance scam detection and prevention.
Turning scammers’ tactics against them
Phone scams remain the leading cause of financial losses in Australia, with text scams following closely behind. In response, Apate.ai’s “honeypot” strategy creates thousands of false targets to lure scammers away from real victims. The bots are tailored with diverse identities, voices, and personalities, using Australian slang and humor to remain undetected.
“Our bots are engineered to be realistic and engaging,” said Professor Dali Kaafar, CEO and Founder of Apate.ai. “We’re dismantling scammers’ business models by wasting their time and gathering intelligence that can lead to blocking scams before they reach the public.”
The collaboration has already diverted hundreds of thousands of scam calls to bots, producing real-time intelligence that supports CommBank’s broader anti-scam systems and industry-wide efforts.
A united front against scams
CommBank emphasizes that fighting scams is a national challenge requiring a cross-sector approach. The bank is sharing intelligence with telecommunication companies, technology firms, and government agencies to better coordinate scam prevention.
“We know no single organization can solve this alone,” Roberts said. “It’s about combining expertise to protect Australians at scale.”
For CommBank, the initiative represents a wider commitment to investing in AI and innovative security technologies to outpace increasingly sophisticated cybercriminals.
“In the fight against scams, timing is everything,” Kaafar said. “This intelligence loop allows us not only to detect scams but to anticipate and block them before they harm consumers.”
As scammers evolve their tactics with AI, Australian institutions are responding in kind – leveraging the same technology to defend communities against a persistent and costly threat.