Demystifying Scam Fog: You Can't Fix What You Don't Measure, A Conversation with Peter Tapling, Managing Director PTap Advisory

🎙️ Episode Title: Demystifying Scam Fog: You Can’t Fix What You Don’t Measure
👤 Guest: Peter Tapling, Managing Director at PTap Advisory
🎧 Host: Ayelet Biger-Levin, ScamRangers

🔍 Episode Overview:
How can you solve a problem you’re not measuring?

In this episode, we tackle one of the biggest blind spots in scam prevention: data classification. Peter Tapling — identity and fraud prevention pioneer — joins Ayelet to unpack why “just calling it a loss” won’t cut it anymore. From romance scams to investment cons, if we’re not labeling the type of scam, we’re missing the patterns that could help us prevent them.

We also explore:

• The difference between authorized and unauthorized fraud — and why it matters
• Why financial institutions must own their phone numbers like intellectual property
• How social engineering beats traditional education
• The power of slowing down payments — and the psychology behind it
• Detecting mule accounts, synthetic identities, and spotting patterns
• The role of scam classifiers and information sharing models

📌 Resources Mentioned:

• [Scam Classifier Model – Federal Reserve Bank of Boston] https://fedpaymentsimprovement.org/strategic-initiatives/payments-security/scams/scamclassifier-model/
• [Scams Information Sharing Work Group – Fed Boston] https://fedpaymentsimprovement.org/news/blog/sharing-information-on-scams-to-improve-fraud-mitigation/
• [Biocatch blog: 9 Types of Mule Accounts] https://www.biocatch.com/blog/the-mules-among-us
• [Aspen Institute Financial Security Program] https://fraudtaskforce.aspeninstitute.org/

🔗 Connect with Peter Tapling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ptap/

🎙️ More from RangersAI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rangersai/
🌐 Learn More: https://www.rangersai.com/

This podcast is hosted by Ayelet Biger-Levin, who has spent the last 15 years building technology to help financial institutions authenticate their customers and identify fraud. She believes that when it comes to scams, the story starts well before the transaction. Ayelet created this podcast to talk about the human side of scams and to learn from those dedicated to advocating for scam victims and taking action against fraud. 

Be sure to follow Ayelet on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayelet-biger-levin/ 

Learn more about her work at RangersAI: https://www.rangersai.com/