Koforidua Phone Users Must Beware Monitoring, Tapping May Be On

By A. C. Ohene, Koforidua

Accra - People using telephones in Koforidua had better beware: Most of their telephone conversations may be monitored on FM radios by rascals and eavesdroppers.

Following complaints received by our Eastern Region bureau and subsequent investigations, Chronicle can now conclude that thousands are radios, which can be used to monitor telephone conversations. Out of over 50 such radios sampled, more than half could clearly pick up telephone conversations between people within the New Juaben municipality and between Koforidua residents and outsiders.

Typical cases were 'love talks' between friends, quarrels over broken appointments and struggles for visas or business connections.

A few quarrels, hurling of insults, criminal deals and highly secretive information were overheard during the monitoring.Radios that typically picked telephone conversations were those FM transistors with TV frequencies. These do not only pick up television sounds when switched on near television antennae, but clearly pick telephone messages almost everywhere in the municipality.

One only needs to tune to the TV channel and begin selecting like in a computer game. If the various megahertzs fail those down the metre band, notably around 64 megahertz are not likely to fail.

Some youth who pleaded anonymity intimated to this reporter that they had made it their pastime to monitor the conversations of people, having found where on the radio to catch the telephone conversations.

"Sometimes when I meet some people, especially the married men and remember the kind of things they tell their concubines on the phone, then I feel like bursting into laughter," one spy said.

He had concluded that the pastime is most pleasurable at a certain time of the night.

Over the past three months another unhealthy development in the telephone service here, has been the 'straying' of calls. In one particular week, the Ghanaian Chronicle, using only one line, had to redirect over 20 callers to 'check and call again.' They in most cases swore they had dialled correctly and were surprised or annoyed that the call had landed in our office.

Similar experiences have been recorded at communication centres, offices, homes and institutions, Chronicle investigations can confirm.

When asked whether those, whose calls go to the wrong places are charged, Telecom officials answered in the negative.

A Telecom official who claimed his company is not aware, however said, "I think those monitoring are not doing it intentionally. They use cheap radio sets, which have poor selectivity and sensitivity."

He advised people to go in for high quality sets and warned the supposed eavesdroppers to desist, calling it an illegal act.