Use chatbots to 'reverse torture' of scammers

Professor Dali Kaafar and his colleagues at Macquarie University (Australia) created Apate - a chatbot that specializes in dealing with scam calls, making scammers angry and giving up.

Malcolm and Ibrahim are two of a series of AI chatbots that have been created to 'reverse torture' scammers.

A thief called asking for a bank password. Malcolm, an older man with a British accent, answered the call with a confused look: "Are you talking about some business deal?".

Later, another scammer called, and Ibrahim, a man with an Egyptian accent, responded cooperatively: 'To be honest, I'm not sure I remember what I bought recently. Maybe the kids in the house bought it. This isn't my fault, right?".

Use chatbots to 'reverse torture' of scammers Picture 1 Use chatbots to 'reverse torture' of scammers Picture 1

The scam call is real. And AI chatbots like Malcolm and Ibrahim will talk, keeping people making spam calls in an endless conversation so they don't have time to trick others.

Network operators do not block, but when they detect spam calls, they turn to systems like Apate. The chatbot will keep the conversation going and keep the crooks busy.

After each call, based on information about duration, data the crooks want to collect, tactics to lure prey. AI will train itself, upgrade and build scenarios to deal with calls. calling, new scam.

Kafaar wants to be able to warn in advance and handle scams in real time.

Using chatbots to "reverse torture" of fraudsters and advertising is becoming a new trend, practiced by many people.

In mid-2023, Roger Anderson, 54 years old in Monrovia, California (USA), after his family was 'tortured' by spam calls for more than a decade, also created the AI tool Whitebeard, with the purpose of discouraging and causing distraction. wasting the time of marketers and phone scammers alike. Whitebeard is based on ChatGPT, which combines text-to-speech software and an AI that simulates the phone number's owner's voice.

Richard Buckland, professor of cybercrime at the University of New South Wales (Australia), said technology like Apate to deal with scam calls is creating new fronts for bad actors. However, he warns that it is necessary to clearly determine whether the call is a scam before transferring it to the chatbot, to avoid unwanted trouble or missing a useful call.