money A group of friends say they found hidden cameras in the bathrooms of their Airbnb rental while on holiday
A group of friends on a holiday on the Sunshine Coast found hidden cameras at their Airbnb rental.
One group member described their experience in a TikTok video that has since gone viral.
Airbnb guests have found hidden cameras in alarm clocks, smoke detectors, and even phone chargers.
A group of friends staying at an Airbnb rental on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada were horrified to find hidden cameras in the bathrooms of the property.
Kennedy Calwell, one of 15 friends who stayed at the Airbnb, shared her experience in a TikTok video last month, which has since gone viral. CTV News was first to report the news.
@kennedyallegedly Thank you Tiktok for saving the day #airbnb #stalker #hiddencameras #creepy ♬ original sound - kennedy
Calwell explained in her TikTok video that one of her friends felt "paranoid" about there being cameras in the house and decided to investigate each room with a flashlight. Calwell later told CTV News that her friend had recently seen a video about small hidden cameras in rental properties, which sparked her concern about this.
"She looked in like every single showerhead, all the picture frames, doorknobs, everywhere in the house for a camera and she found one in the bathroom," Calwell said in the TikTok video, adding that this camera was hidden inside an outlet in the bathroom that faced the shower.
According to CTV News, another camera was located in an outlet in the second bathroom.
Calwell said that the group alerted local police, who searched the property and confirmed that there were hidden cameras. Sunshine Coast RCMP confirmed to Insider that an investigation is ongoing after cameras were reportedly located within a short-term rental home.
"They're sending (the cameras) for analysis ... we don't have the footage for sure or anything like that, but they did find cameras and that's the latest update," Calwell told CTV News.
Melissa Woolfson, who was also part of the group staying at the Airbnb, said in an interview with CTV News that the experience was "super violating."
"No one should have to go on vacation and feel that their naked images are now somewhere online," she added.
Insider reached out to Calwell and Woolfson via TikTok and Linkedin for further comment but did not immediately hear back.
A spokesperson for Airbnb told Insider that it has since suspended the listing and refunded the group for the booking while it investigates the allegations.
While it states on its website that hosts are prohibited from using security cameras or recording devices in private areas such as bedrooms and bathrooms, there have been other reports of privacy violations of this sort. This has included finding hidden cameras in places like phone chargers or alarm clocks.
One family from New Zealand who was vacationing in Ireland in 2019 even found a hidden camera in a smoke detector at their Airbnb rental.
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