seastorm

2015 NWC Security bug sweep journal entry 1

Wed 9/16/15 - Paid Mike Hansen of NWC Security $350 to do security sweep. He used a device to detect radio transmitters and a red light device to look for camera lenses. He found nothing, but much of his behavior makes me think he was not behaving in a completely honest manner...

2015 NWC Security bug sweep journal entry 2

In fact, much of his behavior made it clear he was not being entirely honest with me about what he knows.

2017 my own bug sweep

Did several wireless frequency scans of my bathroom between October and November 2017 using my ACECO FC6002 1Mhz-3GHz RF tracer. I found consistent evidence of wireless signals coming from

• the wall heater
• the towel holder
• the left and right edges of the mirror
• the light fixture above the sink
• the wall above the toilet
• the shower head
• the ceiling fan

Nov 14, 2017 letter to Mike Hansen

PDF version

In 2015 you came to my apartment to do a bug sweep. We had worked out a deal where I would pay you $350.00 to do a counter surveillance check of my studio apartment (where I still live). As we made arrangements on the phone, I recall that you agreed specifically to check my sprinkler system and to provide a written report of the results you had found. You did the bug sweep, and found nothing. Your follow up report arrived about two weeks later. By December 15, 2015, your report had been stolen from the kitchen cupboard where I had placed it for safekeeping.

I chose to hire you rather than to purchase counter surveillance equipment, because I trusted your expertise and integrity. However, I believe that your bug sweep was improperly done, and that I was harmed by continued surveillance and surveillance-related crimes as a result. I am writing this letter to request that my $350 be returned by December 1, 2017. In return, I won't pursue further damages. When you arrived at the apartment, you told me that sprinklers would be “difficult” to check, due to the fact that surveillance gear could be hard-wired into them, and thus not detectable by radio frequency detectors. Even though that caveat conflicted with our agreement on the phone, I accepted your explanation and didn't question your reasoning.

You brought a device, which you told me was very expensive, and set it up in my kitchen. It apparently detected specific radio frequencies. You showed me evidence of a transmitter broadcasting in the 50MHz range, which you said was a baby monitor transmitter that you specifically said was not in my apartment, but in a neighboring residence. That was the only thing you found (and reported) in the entire bug sweep.

Regarding my other areas of concern – you said that checking entertainment equipment (T.V., stereo, CD player) would be too problematic, because there are naturally wireless frequencies associated with it. You said the smoke detector and shower head were both “clean.” You checked the smoke detector, possibly the shower head, and some pin holes on the wall with your red filter lens checker, which you suggested I buy.

After you left my apartment, I walked to the store and saw that people in the neighborhood had thrown empty ice cream containers and Slurpee cups around on the sidewalks as they often do when they are indicating that something corrupt has happened. It is true that I privately questioned the integrity of your bug sweep at the time, and after you left, had done some research which led me to question it further – but I couldn't prove anything until last month, when I was finally able to get enough money to buy a bug detector of my own (Aceco FC 6002 MKII). I put the results of my bathroom scan into a YouTube video.

First of all, I don't know what kind of device you were using to detect wireless frequencies, so I can't question it, or how you used it. I do know that you didn't once use a hand held bug detector, like the one I used to discover seven discrete locations emanating wireless frequencies in my bathroom alone, including the towel holder, mirror edges, and shower head. I find this curious. Second, when you showed me your red-light lens finder, you neglected to mention that these devices can be and are spoofed by infrared pass filters. This is detailed in a 17 year old document easily found online: “How to Find Hidden Cameras” by Marc Roessler. Nonetheless, this shouldn't have been the make or break detail, since wireless frequencies are also present and should have been detected. In addition to the seven locations in my bathroom, I've detected wireless frequencies emanating from light fixtures in my apartment, from the smoke detector that you declared “clean,” and very powerful frequencies from just one of the five fire (TY1234) sprinklers. When I am doing a bug sweep of my own apartment, the problem is not that these devices get turned off (though some locations give off more powerful and/or consistent frequencies than others) – the only noticeable problem that happens is “flooding” of radio frequencies: sometimes extra frequencies seem to be sent in, presumably to disrupt the detection process. (That is why I haven't yet been able to film the actual bug detection process – use of my camera phone for documentation seems to immediately invite a flood of wireless frequencies – and sometimes remote sabotage of the phone / camera as well.)

Yes, two years have passed since the day I hired you; nonetheless, I wouldn't have hired you unless I had a good reason to suspect that my apartment had been bugged, and that you would be able to find those bugs. The fact that the report and receipt you sent was stolen from a closed kitchen cupboard within two weeks of its arrival is further evidence that the apartment had been bugged all along (the sprinkler head emanating radio frequencies happens to be in the kitchen, by the way). I did make notes immediately after your visit, and that is why I remember the date, and the exact amount that I paid you, in cash, as you requested.

I don't know what your motivations were, but I don't think you met the standard of care which should be expected of bug scan, and so I am asking for my money back. Then we can move on.

Nov 20, 2017 response from Hansen

Dear Ms. Meyer,

I was so sorry to read that you have joined the hundreds of thousands who have been duped into believing and spending money on wand boxes. Any true Technical Surveillance Countermeasures (TSCM) engineer will tell you that an untrained person who uses a RF wand is setting themselves up for needless grief because those wands will show hundreds of indications of signals everywhere even where there are no bugs present. Go try it at a friend's house and you will see what I mean.

My usual fee is $650 but I discount to those who can't afford it as in your case down to $350.

If you need more information, I will charge my consulting rate of $150 per hour with a $600 retainer for any future communications on this subject.

Sincerely,

Michael Hansen, ASEE, CPP DPSST ID 33562