Ghana News Agency (Accra) – An audio message circulating on social media as a news report from an international news outlet suggesting that a government official has been caught laundering cash into the UK is fake, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said.
A statement from the NCSC said a forensic analysis by the centre shows that the audio was computer-generated, using technologies available on the open market which make it possible to create and manipulate fictitious audiovisual content.
It said the NCSC is working with the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and other security agencies to identify the sources of the message and other false materials being generated.
Criminal offence
However, the statement reminded the public that production of such information is a crime under Section 115 of the Electronic Transactions Act 2008 (Act 712) and Section 159 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29).
It said the NCSC wishes to draw it to the attention of the public that circulating such fictitious content breached the law under Section 76 of the Electronic Communications Act 2008 (Act 775):
“(1) A person who by means of electronic communications service, knowingly sends a communication which is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life-saving service or to endanger the safety of any person, ship, aircraft, vessel or vehicle commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than three thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than five years or both.
“(2) A person is taken to know that a communication is false or misleading if that person did not take reasonable steps to find out whether the communication was false, misleading, reckless or fraudulent,” it said.
Security agencies alerted
The statement said the law-enforcement agencies have therefore been alerted to the ongoing circulation of the audio and offenders will be arrested and prosecuted under the law.
It called on the general public and mainstream media outlets to be on the lookout for false news items and similar fake productions circulating virally with the hope that they will be carried into the mainstream media.
“These are common interference tactics, especially generated during election seasons globally, and we advise the public to report such suspected information or incident in circulation on social media or any digital platform to the National Cyber Security Centre through the Cybercrime/Cybersecurity Incidents Points of Contact (call or SMS 292),” it said.
The statement said the Ministry of Communications is collaborating with the Ministry of Information and other relevant security agencies through the NCSC, and is committed to ensuring a safer cyberspace for all Ghanaians.
Fake news
Elsewhere, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said it is untrue that any government official has been arrested with £26 million in the UK. He said it is also untrue that British officials have intercepted a haul of cash from Ghana to the UK.
As the country draws closer to the December polls, Oppong Nkrumah said, the opposition NDC will deploy all manner of propaganda tools in a desperate effort to sway voters pointing to the substantive matter as one of such propaganda techniques.
“It is a total fabrication and we are clear in our minds that it is a fabrication by the NDC and it is part of their strategy for these last eight weeks, where they will be churning out a lot of fabrication, lies and fake audio tapes.
“We are clear in our minds that it is the NDC for one or two reasons. The first person to articulate it publicly is Inusah Fusieni, NDC MP for Tamale Central,” Oppong Nkrumah said in an interview with the Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM.
“They are the ones who are championing it and articulating it on their online media platforms, including Radio Gold Online. And now you can also find that there is a fake audiotape that purports to be a piece of international news broadcast on it which is being circulated since last night,” he said.
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