Commonwealth Bank Australia reveals new 'honey pot' strategy in bid to stop scammers
Commonwealth Bank Australia has revealed a new strategy which will be put in place to stop scammers – using artificial intelligence (AI) to trap them in a 'honey pot' strategy.
CBA, in partnership with Apate.ai, says they are deploying thousands of conversation bots to stop scammers ringing or phoning actual Australians.
This fleet of AI-powered bot profiles are engineered to engage with scammers, gather intelligence on them and disrupt scam operations all in near real-time.
Apate.ai chief executive and founder Dali Kaafar said the system was based on a 'honey pot' strategy.
'We've designed our bots to be difficult to detect by scammers, making them incredibly effective at gathering intelligence and disrupting scam operations,' professor Kaafar said.
'The bots are uniquely crafted with diverse identities – varying in gender, age, tone, and cultural nuance – and finetuned with Australian slang and humour to improve realism.'
Professor Kaafar said in collaboration with our telco partners, Apate.ai operates a vast and constantly growing network of dedicated telephone numbers connected to the telcos networks and designed specifically to be discovered and targeted by scammers.
'When a scammer dials or messages one of these numbers, they actually engage in conversations with one of our AI-powered bots and not a person,' he said.
'In the fight against scams, timing is everything.
'Our intelligence gives organisations like CBA the edge, not just to detect scams, but to anticipate and block it before it reaches customers.'
Commonwealth Bank general manager of group fraud James Roberts said while the bank won't share specific methods this collaboration is helping to strengthen the ability to quickly and effectively to evolving threats.
'Since the pilot program was announced late 2024, it has expanded in both scale and sophistication,' Mr Roberts said.
'This has seen hundreds of thousands of scam calls diverted to bots, with intelligence gathered helping to generate near real-time alerts and blocks to protect CommBank customers.
It comes as the bank looks to offset some of the financial damages caused by scammers in Australia.
CBA says phone scams accounted for the highest overall financial losses in 2024, and were more likely to result in significant losses for an individual.
Mr Roberts said every minute a scammer is engaging with a bot, is less time they can be using to target Australians.
'The near real-time intelligence being gathered is a game-changer in how we help to protect our customers and the broader community,' he said.
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