Airbnb guest felt sick after she says found hidden camera

A B.C. woman says she’ll never use Airbnb again after she said she discovered a hidden camera inside an apartment she booked through the vacation rental platform.

“I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t believe that someone would actually do that,” Zorina Mellis told Consumer Matters.

Back in April, Mellis says she rented an apartment in Santa Monica through the Airbnb platform for six weeks.

Mellis made the discovery of what she says was a hidden camera during the last few days of her stay.

“I unplugged the carbon monoxide detector that we brought with us and I noticed the smoke alarm was plugged in. Beside it was a USB cord and I thought that’s really strange,” said Mellis.

Mellis says the smoke detector contained a hidden camera inside the living area of her rented apartment. “I looked on Amazon and found the exact same one and it was described as a nanny cam,” said Mellis.

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Mellis says she downloaded a special app that locates devices connected to the Wi-Fi network and says she discovered more unknown devices.

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Immediately, she says she left the property and checked into a hotel. Mellis says she reported her findings to Airbnb and also filed a report with Santa Monica police.

The police report states Mellis discovered two cameras inside the Airbnb – one disguised as a smoke detector and one inside a closet pointed at the door. However, the door did not have any type of openings and there was no way the camera could have captured anyone inside of the bedroom.

At the time, Airbnb investigated her case and issued Mellis a partial refund stating in an email: “We’ve thoroughly reviewed your account and we were unable to confirm that our Community Standards or Terms of Service weren’t followed.”

“They didn’t apologize. They didn’t even give a full refund. It doesn’t seem like they took it seriously,” said Mellis.

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Consumer Matters reached out to Airbnb on Mellis’ behalf where she received the remainder of her refund.

Airbnb stated: “Our policies are clear – all indoor cameras are banned on Airbnb, and issues are exceptionally rare. We have removed this host from the platform and are continuing to support this guest, including a full refund.”

Consumer Matters has learned the host neglected to remove a personal safety device from a common area ahead of the stay. When Consumer Matters reached out to the Airbnb property owner for answers, the host didn’t want to share the information publicly and global News would not agree to the “off the record” request.

Security expert Michael Jagger of Provident Security says when it comes to detecting undisclosed recording devices, there are apps and devices that can scan the Wi-Fi network to detect hidden devices, but that won’t give an accurate picture.

“You can use a Wi-Fi scanner to see all the devices on the Wi-Fi network, but that’s assuming there is only one Wi-Fi network,” said Jagger.

Jagger recommends physically scanning the room for anything suspicious. “Hidden cameras are often placed in devices in something that looks like a smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector or phone chargers and plug-in devices,” said Jagger.

“There are hundreds of devices intended to be sold as nanny cams or wellness cams and these devices are built to look like a speaker or a plush toy or an alarm clock or any number of things. When you are walking into a room, scan from top to bottom,” said Jagger.

Mellis says while she’s happy she has received a full refund, she won’t be using Airbnb in the future and will look at other options.

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