Every day, thousands of Australians have their day interrupted by annoying scam messages from cybercriminals posing as tolling company Linkt.
These texts usually follow a similar formula.
They claim that a bill is overdue and then provide a link to a spoof website. While these websites may look legitimate, they’re designed to steal bank details, credit card information, and personal data.
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But now, toll giant Transurban is fighting back against scammers using AI.
Under the new system, suspicious texts sent in by customers are screened by an AI model trained to detect scam patterns. In just 12 months, the company has received almost 13,000 reports.
If a message is flagged as malicious, the system checks the linked website against threat intelligence and triggers a rapid take-down process to get the fake domain pulled offline.
Transurban says its new scam-fighting software has slashed scam response times by up to 96 per cent, turning what once took a full day into a job done in under an hour.
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More than 4700 scam messages have been resolved since May this year, with 57 fake domains targeted for removal.
Transurban senior manager of cyber defence, Ali Paracha, said the live threat data allowed the company to move faster on criminal activity.
“The real-time intelligence gathered enables us to instantly block threats, track emerging scam trends and effectively disrupting scam operations before they can impact our customers,” Paracha said.
Macquarie University’s Dr Muhammad Ikram, whose research helped build the system, said the project showed how academic machine learning could be turned into a shield for the public.
“[This project] translates high-level academic theory into a tangible, front-line defence mechanism,” he said.
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Cybercrime continues to cost Australians billions of dollars every year.
Recent figures from ANZ show scam activity surged by 18 per cent year-on-year between October 2025 and June 2026.
Released for Scam Awareness Week, the data found scams remain one of the biggest financial dangers facing Australians.
According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, Australians lost $2.18 billion in 2025, with new data suggesting we’re on track to lose even greater amounts this year.
People are being asked to keep reporting any suspicious messages that purport to be from Linkt to help improve the system. Transurban says every screenshot helps train the AI and protect others from being caught in the trap.