RAG TV Season 1: Episode Guide and Recordings
| Episode | Date | Guests and Topics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1E5 | 29 Apr 2020 | Colin Yates shares insights into the changing patterns of international revenue share fraud (IRSF) and how he helps Europol with their investigations. | replay video |
| S1E4 | 22 Apr 2020 | Arnd Baranowski, CEO of Oculeus, explains how the adoption of SIP changes the risk exposure of telcos and how fraudulent calls can be identified in less than a tenth of a second. | replay video |
| S1E3 | 15 Apr 2020 | Joseph Nderitu, former Head of RAFM at Vodacom Tanzania, talks about corruption; Ray Green of Focus Data explains how to conduct a data-driven investigation. | replay video |
| S1E2 | 8 Apr 2020 | Gina Pesheva of Deutsche Telekom talks about the transition to business assurance; Tony Sani of Orillion talks about using blockchain to fight wangiri fraud. | replay video |
| S1E1 | 1 Apr 2020 | Jeffrey Ross of GBSD Technologies talks about authenticating caller IDs and the impact that STIR/SHAKEN will have on small telcos worldwide. | replay video |
| S1E0 | 25 Mar 2020 | Eric Priezkalns of RAG gives a brief preview the first season of RAG Television, explaining how to watch the live shows and ask questions to the guests. | replay video |
S1E5 – 29 April 2020
Colin Yates is an authority on international telecoms fraud. He pioneered the practice of fraud management first in his home country of New Zealand, then worked with telcos worldwide by contributing to law enforcement bodies and fraud associations whilst leading the anti-fraud and police liaison function of Vodafone Group. Colin shares his insights into the changing patterns of international revenue share fraud, why police forces do not pursue telecoms fraudsters more often, and the accuracy of estimates of fraud losses. Colin also explains why he has been sharing his fraud intelligence with Europol, free of charge.
Regular hosts Eric and Lee also chat about the problems created by the aggressive sales tactics of some RAFM vendors, the lack of innovation in revenue assurance relative to fraud management, and the beginnings of a telecoms cold war between the USA and China.
S1E4 – 22 April 2020
Special guest Arnd Baranowski, CEO of Oculeus, speaks about the ways SIP signalling can be exploited to help or hinder telecoms fraudsters. Arnd also discusses the research performed by his business in collaboration with the University of Kassel; this involved using machine learning to review SIP signals so fraudsters are identified and disconnected within the first 100 milliseconds of a call.
Hosts Eric and Lee also talk with Arnd about the FCC decision to make STIR/SHAKEN call authentication mandatory for all IP networks in the USA. STIR/SHAKEN adds a SIP signature which the terminating network can use to confirm the caller ID with a central authority, but depends upon the end-to-end implementation of SIP and STIR/SHAKEN across all the telcos handling the call. One FCC Commissioner stated the adoption of STIR/SHAKEN would cost some telcos “tens of millions” of dollars, begging a question about how many telcos and countries will voluntarily follow the lead of North America by adopting STIR/SHAKEN, and what happens if an increasing number of robocalls terminating on US phones are found to have originated abroad. The team also debated the merits of two alternative ways of authenticating the origin of a call: SEISMIC and the A & B Number Handshake.
S1E3 – 15 April 2020
The two guests are Joseph Nderitu, an RAFM consultant who has worked for various telcos around East Africa, and Ray Green, Director of Focus Data Services and a winner of the GSMA’s Outstanding Contribution Award for his efforts to fight fraud.
Joseph recounts the story of when he and four other executives working for Vodacom Tanzania, including the CEO, were detained without bail on trumped-up charges of conspiring to help another business to commit bypass fraud. Joseph also explains how the Tanzanian government habitually imprisons telco managers to force their employers to pay hefty fines for alleged crimes that are never tried in open court. Ray shares his advice on how to use data to conduct an investigation, and he also gives real-life examples that illustrate the need for telcos to exchange intelligence about fraud. Hosts Eric and Lee also discuss the challenges when seeking to manage operational risks with teams that are working from home, and the FCC proposing a USD6mn fine for Tracfone after the American MVNO claimed government subsidies for low-income subscribers who did not really exist.
S1E2 – 8 April 2020
The show is joined by two special guests: Gina Pesheva, Senior Manager for Business Assurance and Billing at Deutsche Telekom and Tony Sani, founder of Orillion Solutions. Gina talks about the reasons her team created an animated video to explain the transition from revenue assurance to business assurance; click here to find Gina’s video on YouTube. Tony speaks about his business partnering with RAG to deliver the RAG Wangiri Blockchain, used by a consortium of telcos to exchange intelligence about wangiri fraud. Hosts Eric and Lee also discuss the destruction of 5G masts by believers of fake news spread using WhatsApp and social media, and the FCC threatening to block all traffic from international gateway telcos if they continue to connect coronavirus scam robocalls to the US network.
S1E1 – 1 April 2020
Special guest Jeffrey Ross, COO of GBSD Technologies, talks about STIR/SHAKEN, the framework for validating the originating number of voice calls, and how it can still be cost-effectively adapted to suit the circumstances of non-IP networks and smaller telcos. Hosts Eric and Lee also discuss the Tanzanian government arresting telecoms executives and the ways spammers are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic.
S1E0 – 25 March 2020
Eric Priezkalns previews the first season of RAG Television, with guests lined up for each Wednesday of April.