Apate has deployed 200,000 fake AI 'victims' to bait online fraudsters. The bots are designed to look like real people, drawing scammers into conversations that go nowhere. The company also tracks a monthly KPI: the number of F-bombs scammers drop at the bots.
The scale of the operation
Two hundred thousand is a lot of bots. That's enough to keep a sizable army of scammers busy, assuming each bot can hold a conversation. The deployment suggests Apate is serious about this approach, even if the company hasn't shared how the bots are built or how they decide who to target.
What's clear is that the bots are out there, waiting. Whether they're spread across social media, email, or dating apps, Apate isn't saying. But the sheer number points to a strategy that relies on volume — more bots means more chances to catch a scammer's attention.
The F-bomb metric
Here's the quirky part. Apate tracks a monthly KPI for the number of F-bombs scammers drop at the AI bots. It's a strange but telling statistic. When a scammer curses at a bot, it's a sign the bot is doing its job — wasting the scammer's time and patience.
The company counts these outbursts every month. That gives it a clear, if unconventional, measure of how much frustration the bots are causing. A rising F-bomb count probably means the bots are getting under scammers' skin. A drop might mean the scammers are catching on, or just that they've moved to other targets.
What the bots actually do
The fake victims are meant to lure fraudsters into interactions that don't pay off. They engage in conversations, maybe string scammers along, and ultimately leave them empty-handed. The goal is to keep fraudsters occupied so they can't go after real people.
But the details are thin. Apate hasn't released information on how the bots mimic human behavior, how long they can keep a scammer hooked, or what happens when a scammer tries to close a deal. The company has also stayed quiet on whether the bots ever escalate to phone calls or video chats.
A twist on anti-fraud
Online fraud is a growing problem, and most defenses focus on blocking or flagging suspicious activity. Apate's approach flips that. Instead of just shutting scammers down, they're actively baiting them. It's a more aggressive tactic, and the F-bomb KPI is a measure of success, albeit an unusual one.
Whether this actually reduces fraud is another question. The company hasn't shared any data on how many scammers have been tied up or how many real people have been spared. The F-bomb count is the only public metric, and it's more about frustration than outcomes.
Apate hasn't said whether it plans to expand the deployment or change the KPI. For now, the bots are out there, and the F-bombs are being counted. The next monthly tally will tell us if the scammers are still cursing.
