Who are scammers or how chatbots help fight telephone scammers?
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2024 4:53 am
Australian startup Apate wants to put an end to phone fraud by using chatbots to keep criminals on the line and collect data that can be used to combat spam calls.
A phone scammer asks for a password. Malcolm, an elderly man with a British accent, says confusedly: “What do you mean?” he asks.
The next day, another call comes in. This time, Ibrahim, a polite man with an Egyptian accent, answers the phone. “To be honest, I don’t remember buying anything,” he says. “Maybe one of the kids did it, but it’s not my fault, is it?”
The crooks are real, but Malcolm and Ibrahim are not. They are talking robots powered by artificial intelligence, created by Professor Dali Kaafar and his team. Through research at Macquarie University, Kaafar founded the company Apate, named after the Greek goddess of lies and deception.
Apate aims to combat phone fraud worldwide using egypt phone number material conversational artificial intelligence. The company leverages existing systems that allow telecommunications companies to redirect calls they identify as coming from scammers.
Kaafar was inspired to start the company during a family picnic when he pranked a con man by keeping him on the line with meaningless chatter. “The kids laughed,” he says. “And I thought the goal was to trick the con man, to waste his time, so he wouldn’t talk to anyone else.”
The next day, Kaafar gathered his team from the university's Cybersecurity Center. He thought there had to be a way better than his picnic joke. And smarter than a popular technology called Lennybot.
Before Malcolm and Ibrahim, there was Lenny, an elderly Australian chatterbox who was created to mock telemarketers.
Lenny, who has a husky voice with a slight whistle, repeats various phrases in a circle. Each phrase is followed by a second and a half of silence, imitating the rhythm of conversation.
Anonymous creator Lenny wrote on Reddit that he had made the chatbot “a telemarketer’s worst nightmare — a lonely old man who wants to chat, is proud of his family, and can’t focus on the telemarketer’s goal.” This tactic has been dubbed “scambaiting.”
How Apate bots work
A phone scammer asks for a password. Malcolm, an elderly man with a British accent, says confusedly: “What do you mean?” he asks.
The next day, another call comes in. This time, Ibrahim, a polite man with an Egyptian accent, answers the phone. “To be honest, I don’t remember buying anything,” he says. “Maybe one of the kids did it, but it’s not my fault, is it?”
The crooks are real, but Malcolm and Ibrahim are not. They are talking robots powered by artificial intelligence, created by Professor Dali Kaafar and his team. Through research at Macquarie University, Kaafar founded the company Apate, named after the Greek goddess of lies and deception.
Apate aims to combat phone fraud worldwide using egypt phone number material conversational artificial intelligence. The company leverages existing systems that allow telecommunications companies to redirect calls they identify as coming from scammers.
Kaafar was inspired to start the company during a family picnic when he pranked a con man by keeping him on the line with meaningless chatter. “The kids laughed,” he says. “And I thought the goal was to trick the con man, to waste his time, so he wouldn’t talk to anyone else.”
The next day, Kaafar gathered his team from the university's Cybersecurity Center. He thought there had to be a way better than his picnic joke. And smarter than a popular technology called Lennybot.
Before Malcolm and Ibrahim, there was Lenny, an elderly Australian chatterbox who was created to mock telemarketers.
Lenny, who has a husky voice with a slight whistle, repeats various phrases in a circle. Each phrase is followed by a second and a half of silence, imitating the rhythm of conversation.
Anonymous creator Lenny wrote on Reddit that he had made the chatbot “a telemarketer’s worst nightmare — a lonely old man who wants to chat, is proud of his family, and can’t focus on the telemarketer’s goal.” This tactic has been dubbed “scambaiting.”
How Apate bots work