Woman finds hidden camera in her rental unit
Dare we highlight the importance of reading the T's and C's before booking a place?
When looking for an Airbnb, you don't usually question the safety and security of the place due to the esteemed name that comes with renting from Airbnb.
However, hosts who sign up for Airbnb cannot be painted the same colour as the esteemed brand. Senior CNN Investigative Journalist Kyung Lah interviewed a woman who revealed that she had mistakenly taken home a charger from her Airbnb rental, only to find out that it wasn't a charger, but a hidden camera.
"Airbnb, one of the world’s largest short-term rental companies, had seen this scenario before. Typically, the company seeks to settle hidden camera cases quickly and confidentially." (CNN)
Watch snippets from the interview between Chloe Lebrument and Kyung Lah from Instagram:
What was even more scary was that an Airbnb official revealed "35,000 customer support tickets about security cameras" or "recording devices" over the past decade.
And this was after Airbnb told CNN that these cases are "exceptionally rare".
According to the CNN website: "During the hours-long deposition, the Airbnb employee also revealed that when a guest complains of a hidden camera, the company doesn’t – as a matter of practice – notify law enforcement, not even when a child is involved. The company may, however, reach out to hosts about complaints as part of internal inquiries – a move law enforcement experts say could hinder criminal investigations because it gives suspects time to destroy evidence."
It was disturbing for many people who were victims of these hidden cameras to find out that their Airbnb hosts had recorded them, mainly because they received no formal justice for what had happened to them.
One man came forward, revealing that Airbnb paid him a settlement as part of a confidentiality agreement after he found out that his wife and him were recorded during a romantic stay at an Airbnb rental.
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Image Courtesy of iStock/scyther5