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A Guide to Staying Safe: The Most Common Scam Types During The Festive Season

The festive season should be a time of celebration. But for thousands of Australians each year, it's when scammers strike hardest – stealing not just money, but trust, time, and peace of mind. This report was developed to give fraud, cyber, and policy teams a clear view of how scams operate during the festive season - when Australians are most exposed. It outlines the most common scam types seen between November and January, with evidence drawn from real losses, seasonal alerts, and evolving criminal tactics. Each scam is broken down by delivery method, victim impact, and operational patterns.

Health Data for Sale: Inside the GP Medicare Data Harvesting Surge

Between 11–25 September 2025, Apate’s Bot Army recorded a sharp rise in Medicare and GP impersonation scams across Australia. Around 33% of all scam traffic during this 15-day window involved fake GP or Medicare calls – illustrating a coordinated structured data-harvesting campaign. The activity points to a professionalised campaign aimed at building victim profiles for future exploitation.

Apate.ai Recognised by AFR BOSS as Australia’s Most Innovative Technology Company

Apate.ai has been named Australia’s Most Innovative Technology Company by AFR BOSS, recognised for flipping the script on scammers with proactive AI defence.

The Illusion of Blocking: Why Stopping Calls Isn’t Stopping Scams

Every time a network closes one route, scammers open another. Static blocking can no longer keep pace with fast-evolving scam tactics, and its blunt approach risks driving cost, compliance pressure, and customer frustration. Real leadership now lies in building intelligence-led defences that learn from adversaries in real time and strengthen with every interaction.

Mule Accounts in Australia: The Hidden Infrastructure of Fraud

Mule accounts fuel global fraud. Discover how real-time mule detection is helping banks and telcos dismantle scam networks, protect customers, and build trust.

GASA Asia 2025: Scam Prevention Insights from GASA Asia 2025 in Singapore

From AI fraud detection to cross-border collaboration, GASA Asia 2025 set the agenda for global scam prevention. Here’s what changed and what to do next.

TPG Telecom Deploys AI-Powered Chatbots for Scam Call Mitigation and Real-Time Fraud Intelligence

TPG Telecom is pioneering a new wave of AI-powered scam call mitigation, using conversational AI to protect customers and generate real-time fraud intelligence. In partnership with Apate.ai, the telco has deployed thousands of AI chatbots to actively detect, engage, and neutralise scam calls.

How Fake Tech Support Networks Are Exploiting Global Infrastructure

A recent international law enforcement operation uncovered a massive cybercrime syndicate operating out of Noida, India, exposing the evolution of scam tactics. These fraudsters ran call centres by impersonating trusted tech companies, primarily targeting victims in the UK and Australia with fake support calls. Once victims were convinced to grant access to their devices, scammers would extract sensitive data, drain bank accounts, and install spyware. This highlights how voice phishing (or vishing) is one of the most insidious threats in today’s scam landscape.

Building a Scam-Free Future: Apate’s Bot Army Joins the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA)

Modern scam operations are very profitable businesses that have grown into sophisticated transnational networks. Scamming is no longer a series of random attacks. It’s a scalable, borderless epidemic – and we’re here to fight it at scale.

Apate.ai and CommBank: Revolutionising AI-Driven Scam Disruption in Australia

We are proud to announce a landmark collaboration with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, leveraging our cutting-edge AI technology to set a new standard for scam prevention and intelligence gathering in the financial sector.

The Top 5 Emerging Scam Tactics of 2025

By 2025, as technology continues to advance and become increasingly accessible, scammers have begun operating with the scale and sophistication of legitimate businesses. Armed with automation, AI, and expansive digital infrastructure, they can now target thousands of victims simultaneously, across borders and platforms. Tools once considered cutting-edge, like voice cloning, deepfakes, AI-generated messages, spoofed SMS, and crypto-enabled money laundering, are now standard features in the modern fraudster’s toolkit. These technologies make scams faster to deploy, harder to detect, and disturbingly personal. The result is a new era of fraud: scalable, convincing, and deeply disruptive for individuals, businesses, and regulatory bodies alike. We are going to focus on the 5 most harmful and sophisticated scam schemes that have been picked up by our bots and/or reported in 2025. They reveal how fraudsters operate and why real-time intelligence is more critical than ever.

Why Telcos Need Intelligent Scam Disruption - Not Just Detection

For telcos, scam calls aren’t just an operational headache—they’re a trust killer. People were being bombarded daily with fraud attempts, leading to frustration, financial losses, and declining confidence in their service providers. But blocking scam calls wasn’t enough. Scammers adapted. Customers suffered. And regulators took notice. The telecom industry needed a real solution—one that didn’t just detect scams but actively disrupted them.

The Evolution of Scams in 2025: How AI is Reshaping Fraud and Security

As we move into 2025, the fraud landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital communication. From AI-generated phishing attacks to deepfake-enhanced social engineering, scams are becoming more sophisticated, harder to detect, and increasingly costly for individuals and organisations alike. At Apate, we remain at the forefront of scam prevention, leveraging cutting-edge behavioural AI and network intelligence to dismantle fraudulent operations before they cause harm.

The Scam Industrial Complex: How Criminal Syndicates Built a Multi-Billion Dollar Fraud Empire

A chilling OCCRP investigation has pulled back the curtain on one of the most sophisticated organised crime operations of the digital age. What investigators uncovered wasn't just another scam operation but a fully industrialised fraud economy with corporate structures, specialised departments, and shockingly professional business practices.

Combating Pig Butchering Scams: How Crypto Platforms Can Enhance Security & User Trust

The 2024 Crypto Crime Report by Chainalysis reveals a concerning trend: pig butchering scams continue to grow, with criminals stealing billions from unsuspecting users. These scams, which involve building trust with victims before convincing them to invest in fraudulent schemes, have seen a year-over-year revenue increase, highlighting the urgent need for stronger security measures in the crypto industry.

Australia’s Scam Prevention Framework: What You Need to Know

In the face of a $2.7 billion scam crisis—equivalent to 1% of Australia’s GDP—the country has introduced a robust Scam Prevention Framework to tackle fraud head-on. This groundbreaking strategy is designed to protect individuals and businesses, targeting regulated entities such as banks, telcos, digital platforms, and even crypto companies. But what does this mean for you, and why is it so important? Let’s break it down.

Billion Scam Calls Blocked in Australia – A Massive Win or a Hidden Opportunity?

Australia’s fight against scam calls and SMS has reached unprecedented levels, with telecommunications providers blocking a staggering 2.2 billion scam calls and 788 million scam SMS messages. While these numbers represent a significant victory in protecting Australians from fraud, they also highlight a critical missed opportunity: every blocked scam is a chance to gather valuable intelligence.

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We work closely with each client to understand their unique requirements and provide a solution that fits. Reach out for a personalised consultation and to explore how our technology can transform your scam prevention and intelligence strategy.

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