RAFM Event Organizer Turns Abusive

I have been saving this post for a while. The internet has revolutionized the nature of human discourse, making it easy to blare out messages in public, but difficult to retract them later. This is dangerous; human emotions did not evolve in a world powered by the internet. Sometimes it helps to take a deep breath, to calm down, and to think before diving for the keyboard. Having done that, I want to share with you an example of the abuse I occasionally receive, from people who dislike the stories that Commsrisk publishes. This abuse came from Mohammad Ali, the Chief Marketing Officer of Falcon Business Research. Falcon describes itself as an event management company.

Readers may remember Mohammad Ali from such posts as “RAFM Event Organizer Accuses Rivals of Fraud” which was about the time he used LinkedIn to say his competitors were running ‘scams’. Or maybe you recall “Is Shane Fryer Speaking at Your Conference?” which pointed out the discrepancies between the published agenda for a Falcon event and who had actually agreed to speak. Obviously Falcon’s CMO does not like me, as made clear when he emailed to say “we don’t give a damn about you (sic) posts.” Despite his not giving a damn, it seems I made him very angry when I posted an article about the large number of speakers confirmed to speak at the RAG Summer Conference. The article used a comically pixellated version of an image that Falcon had shared on the internet a few days before. That image featured the small group of unhappy people who attended Falcon’s May RAFM event in Dubai. Here is the photograph again, in case you missed it first time.

miserable-RAFM-conference

The article did not mention the name of Falcon. The faces of Falcon employees were obscured. So what upset Mohammad Ali? If you look very closely, Falcon’s logo is still visible in the background. I did not look that closely. But Falcon CMO Mohammad Ali was very upset, so decided to demonstrate his communications skills by sending me the following email.

From: mohammad.ali@fbr*****.com

To: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

Date: 02/06/2016 09:11

Subject: Coward

Hi Eric,

I see you are promoting your RAG conference and you have pasted a photo of over conference where our company logo is not blur and I am happy that for us your activities are proving quite beneficial for us. And its way out of your reach to blur Falcon.

We are Falcon not vulture like you. The Falcon and Vulture flies in same sky but both have different ways of living. The Vulture eats carrion(Dead Flesh) while as Falcon preys. So who is more awesome and majestic. The same way you are picking up the things what falcon left behind.

Keep writing fairy tales about Falcon.

Regards,
Falcon

Let us not bother picking apart these ridiculous analogies; I struggle to understand what is good about an event organizer ‘preying’ upon telcos and vendors. Here was the reply I wrote.

From: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

To: mohammad.ali@fbr*****.com

Date: 02/06/2016 12:09

Subject: Re: Coward

Hello Mohammad,

Probably nobody would have noticed your company’s logo on that photo. I didn’t. And even if they did, they wouldn’t recognize your logo, because your business is small and not well known. The photo was issued by your company using a social network so it could be shared via the internet, so I see little justification for you complaining when someone shares it via the internet.

However, now that your have written this email, people will notice your logo, and they will know that it represents Falcon Business Research, a small business that organizes events and which is based in Jammu and Kashmir, a northern Indian state that borders Pakistan and China. That is because I am going to publish your email, so people can see what kind of abuse I have to take from people like you. I will also publish this reply, so people can see how I respond.

People will read your email, and some of them will share it via the internet. The number who read your email may prove greater than the number you typically reach using your own website and via LinkedIn. I assume you recognize the popularity of Commsrisk; on several occasions you asked if you could get free advertising though you were never prepared to pay for it.

You seem to think that promoting ‘my’ RAG conference is a bad thing. Unlike you, the RAG Committee works hard to put on educational events whilst never taking a penny for doing so. So when I publish your email, it will be clear who is the real vulture feeding on the telecoms industry but giving little back.

A short while ago you fostered a bad reputation for yourself by publicly describing your former business colleagues as fraudsters. Why did you employ fraudsters? And where did they learn that it was possible to make money by tricking telecoms people into attending fraudulent events?

I have had a successful career working for telcos. That explains RAG’s success; we are not vultures, we just know the subjects we talk about and we know the people we invite to our events. After I stopped working full-time I offered to spend some of my free time helping to organize RAG meetings, without seeking payment. What qualifications do you have to run educational events for telecoms professionals, and what justifies the prices you charge for doing so?

Eric Priezkalns

At this point a smarter man would have realized that nothing would be gained by feeding me content for this website. Falcon CMO Mohammad Ali is not a smarter man.

From: mohammad.ali@fbr*****.com

To: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

Date: 02/06/2016 12:18

Subject: Re: Coward

Our clients know how we care from for them.

And for your information all the operators attending our conference do not pay us. our conferences are free for operators in fact we provide business class air tickets and 5 star accommodation free for our operators.

Do your homework now.

Seriously. He actually wrote that, although Falcon’s website says attendees must pay in full before the conference begins, and despite him trying to get a free advert on Commsrisk by promising Commsrisk readers would get a discount on the usual attendance fees. However, Falcon usually avoids stating what they charge telcos; nobody knows the value of a discount if the original price is a secret.

Mohammad Ali felt no shame that some of the miserable people sat in that photo were sponsors of his last event. They were probably wondering why they spent so much money to meet so few telco managers. Now they know why they spent so much money. So I kept writing, in the hope that this falcon would keep taking the bait…

From: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

To: mohammad.ali@fbr*****.com

Date: 02/06/2016 13:00

Subject: Re: Coward

Mohammad,

Why do you insist on making things worse for yourself? I will also publish this latest email from you.

You have just explained why your sponsors meet so few telcos at your events. As you have now stated, no telco employee would choose to go to your event simply because they hoped to learn something whilst they were there.

The only telcos you can attract to your events are the ones who go because they receive a business class flight, 5-star accommodation, and a little holiday. That delivers terrible value for your sponsors; it would be cheaper for your sponsors to separately fly to the offices of each individual telco.

You describe me as a vulture, but the RAG has never paid for flights or hotels for any telco attending our events, and so has never demanded from sponsors the money needed to pay for those flights or hotels. Our members attend because they want to learn and to network with their peers. In return, our sponsors behave well and they do not aggressively market their products and services. Our sponsors know they get a good deal just by taking part.

I am amused that you think you are correcting an error I made. My email expressed no opinion on how you generate your profits, so thank you for sharing that information. In my experience, commercial event organizers like yours often avoid stating a clear and transparent policy on the fees they levy from telco attendees; they will charge some telcos if they think they can, whilst effectively paying other telcos to come to the same event.

It pleases me that you have now stated that all telcos can attend Falcon’s events for free. I suggest you update your brochures and website to make that clear. Now you just need explain to everyone why only some telcos deserve free flights and free accommodation. You obviously could not afford to give those benefits to every telco, if more than a few decided to attend your events.

Eric Priezkalns

As previously mentioned, a smarter man would have just stopped sending me emails. Falcon CMO Mohammad Ali kept going. He kept on abusing me but provided no useful information about his business… until he delivered an unexpected twist to this tale of woe.

From: mohammadali*****@gmail.com

To: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

Date: 18/06/2016 20:23

Subject: YOU PROVED YOU ARE COWARD

Eric,

I know you have contacted my boss and made complaint against me and that’s the only reason I was fired.

But life doesn’t stop here and i am not a coward. I have been offered jobs from my previous organizations GSMA & Informa and both the companies are very big and they are 100 times bigger than commsrisk.

Just wanted to tell you that you the an hypocrite person.

Ali

I was not going to lose sleep because this imbecile lost his job. But I did put the record straight.

From: eric.priezkalns@*****.com

To: mohammadali*****@gmail.com

Date: 19/06/2016 01:59

Subject: Re: YOU PROVED YOU ARE COWARD

The only person who got you fired is you. I have never had any contact with your boss. The most contact I have had with your boss is when he sent me a LinkedIn invite earlier today, but I ignored it.

Even though you were fired, and even though I told you not to email me, and even though you complained publicly that I replied to your previous emails, you have decided to continue sending me abusive emails. What you don’t know is that I have been planning to publish them all but you’re so unimportant that I was in no rush. These latest emails will be published too.

Benjamin Franklin said “experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.” It seems that not even that school can teach you a lesson. Nobody is going to employ you for long if you send abusive emails to near strangers, leave deranged comments on popular websites visited by your customers, use social media to rant wildly about competitors, and do all the other things you keep doing.

It is a struggle to understand why you chose a career in marketing when you’re so obviously unsuited to the work.

E

The termination of Mohammad Ali’s employment was confirmed by Falcon’s official twitter account.

Since I wrote the original draft of this piece Mohammad Ali has published a LinkedIn article that contains an extraordinary string of untruths about me, and about the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) on whose committee I serve. You can find that post here (unless LinkedIn tear it down because it violates their terms). It is hardly worth challenging the many misrepresentations in Mohammad Ali’s LinkedIn post. For example, the RAG Committee consists of respected professionals from several different businesses, and they know that nobody is paid to run or promote their events.

However, I think it necessary to refute the most outrageous of Mohammad Ali’s lies, which is that I started a vendetta against him after I demanded money that he refused to pay. The following image is a screen grab of LinkedIn messages between us, showing the opposite happened: after he failed to pay an invoice on a timely basis, I withdrew the offer of an advertising slot on Commsrisk.

mohammad-ali-linkedin-exchange

Maybe you will come across Mohammad Ali, the former CMO of Falcon Business Research. Maybe he will be working for the GSMA, or for Informa. Whichever business employs him, you can be pretty confident that they did not properly research his online history, as is the norm when hiring marketing executives. Reviewing an individual’s record of communication is an effective risk mitigation technique, because not many businesses want to be represented by people who communicate like this. And that is the main reason I am publishing this, though I admit that I enjoyed hearing how Falcon Business Research sacked this wayward employee.

Mohammad Ali may get lucky. Many people bear the same name, so his errant behavior may be lost in the crowd. I have never had that option, because my name is unique. As befits that simultaneous advantage and drawback, I try to leave a lasting impression, and to stand by my words. If Falcon really have fired Mohammad Ali, they made a wise decision. Anyone who considers hiring him should think again – and should search the web first.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalnshttp://revenueprotect.com

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), an association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers. RAG was founded in 2003 and Eric was appointed CEO in 2016.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Eric!
    I had the same experience with him when i decided to sponsor and host the RAFM Event in Vienna. Hell broke loose. I received several emails. Most in the same tone and attitude like the ones you received. He literally bombarded me with emails and comments on various platforms until i stopped answering and blocked him from contacting me on linkedin.

    Mohammed Ali surely has a problem. Which one, i dont know.

  2. Hi Eric,
    My inquisitive instinct being stronger than me led me to read this whole post.

    I wanted to read the linked in post that Mr. Ali wrote as you said against you.

    I could not find it but to my amazement i see a project under his profile “3rd Annual Africa Telecoms Fraud, Revenue Assurance & GRC Forum – 2-4 August 2016, Dar es Salaam – Tanzania(Link)” WHERE I AM ONE OF THE AUTHOURS.

    Two things here:
    1. I have never been part of any project with FBR or Mr Ali.

    2. This is amazing that anyone can create any project put you as co author on their linked in profile and post it. Linked in does not even notify you that your name was used. For example if you tag someone on Facebook that someone is notified.

    @Mohammad Ali, if you are reading this post and i am sure you will, please be a gentleman and remove my name as author of your project.

    @linkedin: very disappointed even more now after you being acquired by Microsoft.

  3. Hello Hossenbaccus Mohammad Sha’ad!

    I was a speaker on 3 events and sponsored 2. They used our logo as well as my photo from Linkedin.

    Of course i never spoke.
    Of course i never sponsored.

    But… thats how they work.

    • Dear Daniel,

      As most of people know in industry you are involved in simbox fraud and was fired from couple of companies for you behavior. You was fired from Araxxe right?

      I am not defending Falcon here but just to make it clear that you are a liar. On your website you have mentioned you sponsored 2 events of FBR. Below is the link:
      http://www.ares-fraud.net/web/

      I represented Saudi Telecom company at the FBR’s 3rd Annual RAFM conference in Dubai and you did a presentation there and during networking hours you made fun of Mr. Amit Agrawal who was the chairman of the conference. And for your information Mr. Amit is the Best RAFM professional in our middle east telecom industry.

      You are a fraud and everyone in GCC countries knows this very well.

  4. Dear Daniel,

    As most of people know in industry you are involved in simbox fraud and was fired from couple of companies for you behavior. You was fired from Araxxe right?

    I am not defending Falcon here but just to make it clear that you are a liar. On your website you have mentioned you sponsored 2 events of FBR. Below is the link:
    http://www.ares-fraud.net/web/

    I represented Saudi Telecom company at the FBR’s 3rd Annual RAFM conference in Dubai and you did a presentation there and during networking hours you made fun of Mr. Amit Agrawal who was the chairman of the conference. And for your information Mr. Amit is the Best RAFM professional in our middle east telecom industry.

    You are a fraud and everyone in GCC countries knows this very well..

  5. Will the real Daniel Flöckinger please stand up? Though now off-topic, this thread received comments from two different users that both appeared to be the real Daniel Flöckinger (a well-known industry personality with experience of simbox fraud etc). However, it seems both sets of comments were removed almost simultaneously, shortly after one of the accounts accused the other of being a fraud. That suggests both accounts were real, or both fake, and being used by the same person at the same time. I know all this because I was looking into the identities of both users to respond to the comment about impersonation. See below for the remarks I prepared in response, during the time between the comment about impersonation being posted and removed:

    Commsrisk tries to maintain as unrestricted a policy to publishing comments as legally possible, but comments from users who impersonate known people are something we seek to avoid. If you are suggesting the Disqus user called “Daniel Floeckinger” [ https://disqus.com/by/danielfloeckinger/ ] is impersonating you, I can only observe that it is not evident from the user’s details. They have not used that Disqus account to post on other websites, but they do use an IP address in Austria and the email address they supplied matches the web domain of a company associated with the real Daniel Flöckinger. That user also spells their username in a way that is consistent with the seemingly real LinkedIn profile of Daniel Flöckinger [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielfloeckinger ].

    To illustrate the difficulty, let me observe that the Disqus account called “Daniel Flöckinger” [ https://disqus.com/by/danielflckinger/ ] also posts from Austria and uses an email an address associated with a company formerly connected to the real Daniel Flöckinger (per the details on LinkedIn). This account spells the username (danielflckinger) differently to the username for the Flöckinger’s LinkedIn account.

      • Dear Younis!

        I would appreciate if you would stop posting wrong comments about me.

        In the past 8 years, I have not worked for any company except my own. I have never been fired from any company and I have never been involved in any kind of Simbox Fraud. These allegations are completely baseless.

        I do not know where you take your information from but this is nothing than a defamation campaign.

        Anyhow, I stick to what i wrote. The Chairman of the Falcon 3rd RAFM Dubai was really not the best choice. You may have a different opinion about this and you have already reflected your opinion in your comment.

        As far as i know, we never met. You dont know me at all. You dont know what i am doing nor what kind of products and services my companies are selling. You have absolutely no clue about me, my business and my background as well as i have none of yours.

        Therefore, i find it inappropriate for you to post such defaming, false and baseless accusations and i would kindly ask you to remove them.

        • You deleted The reply to comment of Mr Hossenbaccus.

          Firstly you said in last 20 years now you say in last 8 years.

          You said someone is using your name to comment and now you accept you made the comment by saying you stick to what you wrote about the chairman of 3rd RAFM conference.

          I don’t understand what you are trying to prove.

          • Younis,

            I dont need to prove anything to anyone. I am just defending myself against the shitsortm you have started on Linkedin as well as here and i am stemming against your baseless allegartions which are complete nonsense.

            The 20 years vs. 8 years result out of me being super-correct. In 2009 i held the position as VP sales at TELES AG. I was employed there. That was my only employment on 20 years.

            You are posting wrong allegations against me. You are harming me and and my reputation by saying untrue things which you know are completely baseless nonsense.

            You still do this and i dont know why.

          • The simplest way to resolve the main thrust of Younis’ claims is to have Araxxe confirm either confirm or deny the claim. I know that Araxxe employees read this website – please do the decent thing!

          • Eric, i see the main problem in Youanis comments not in the Araxxe thing but in this:

            “As most of people know in industry you are involved in simbox fraud.
            You are a fraud and everyone in GCC countries knows this very well..”

            These allegations are the ones harming the most. They are completely baseless and require a correction and apology. His defamation campaign runs on Linkedin as well and i am no longer willing to accept this.

            I dont really care if he believes in some stories of me working here or there. This is gossip i am not so interested in commenting.

          • Everybody knows me. Who exactly is “Youanis” ? Maybe he could identify himself first before continuing to post?

          • If Araxxe dispute Younis’ assertion then it reduces the credibility of all his other claims.

            As for the words ‘most people know you are involved in simbox fraud’ the assertion is vague. It is partly a statement about hearsay – ‘most people know’ – which may be true even if their opinions are wrong. Meanwhile the phrase ‘involved in’ is open-ended; we all know that it is possible to supply products or services to a fraudster without being responsible for their fraud. Telcos provide services to fraudsters all the time, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not, and sometimes without making any effort to have an opinion either way.

          • Eric,

            Your judgement on the rest of the allegations is something most courts would see different. Hearsay and rumors, if spread to the right people can and do harm a lot.

            This whole discussion is poison for my business and i have people react already. People know me and my name. Mr. Youanis noone knows. He hides and can say whatever he wants since he does this completely anonymously. He started this nonsense 2 days ago by posting of various forums the same message (including here). His motivation is unknown to me.

            I want to know who this is. I want to know his full name and employer. If it is STC, i would be very surprised. Especially since i know some people there who know me and worked with me in the past.

          • Daniel, I don’t much like the threat you just made. If you want to see the inside of a court then you may get your wish, assuming you’re the right person to go to court anyway. With your multiple personality disorder it is hard to be sure who is leaving which comment.

            If you’re saying that defamation is a complicated matter then you are right. But if you’re implying that you’re dealing with country bumpkins who don’t know that then you’re very wrong. I look forward to receiving a long long letter from your lawyers explaining who is going to be held responsible for defamation in this case, and which court will be hearing the case. And if you’re not going into that detail then you’re guilty of empty bluster.

            If this went to court that would potentially pose much more risk for you than the damage done by any defamation that may have occurred already. In a court case everything will be in play, and will become a matter of record. I don’t think you really want that.

            You can ask people to reveal their identity. I don’t blame you. Younis should back his assertions with some substance. But if you’re demanding that Commsrisk hands out more data just to appease you, then stop wasting your time. However, it doesn’t take much of a detective to observe that this particular Disqus user has taken an interest in other Disqus discussions about Kashmir, and that many of the user’s Commsrisk comments are in response to your comments about a business which is based in that part of India.

          • Dear Eric!

            I did not say nor imply that i would hold commsrisk responsible for anything. What i wanted to express is the fact that these allegations would be enough for a fully blown libel/slander case.
            The allegations are wrong and false. Especially from a person who does not reveal his identity and lies about literally everything.

            I am writing posts under my real name. I am standing to what i am saying.

            Both of us know who wrote these comments. A Indian coward from a questionable RAFM event company.

            You are also not easy to take. Some of your comments are highly abusive. Especially the “multiple personality disorder” comment definitely a hit is below the belt line.

            We are similar in many ways. People either like or hate us. For us, there are not a lot of shades of gray between black and white. We speak out what we think and we stand to it.
            I respect you and i like your blog very much as many other do. In forums, i would wish more transparency. Comments like the one we are talking about from people hiding behind anonymous pseudo-names should not be allowed.

            My 2 cents. I am closing this chapter now.

Comments are closed.

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