Going on vacation is the one time people should unquestionably be able to relax and not worry about anything. But if you're planning on staying at a rental instead of checking into a hotel chain, you may want to take some necessary precautions.
On November 27, 2017, Jason Scott uploaded two photos to his Twitter profile about a camera that was hidden inside a motion detector. A friend of his was staying in a rental home and noticed an odd motion detector in the bedroom.
Instead of brushing it off, he took a closer look and pulled it off of the wall. As it turns out, the seemingly innocent security device was actually a camera in disguise that was spying on guests!
After tweeting about the incident, Jason's post received 23,000 retweets and 365 comments. While this incident is rare, it's always good to stay on the safe side and do a sweep of your rental when you first check in.
Keep scrolling to see the photos and learn how you can prevent this from happening to you.
Nowadays, many families are forgoing expensive hotels and staying in other people's houses through rental services.
This has the distinct advantage of letting the guests feel like locals. In many cases, people renting their houses or rooms are rated online so future guests can find their ideal match.
But even with good ratings, some hosts may not be innocent. Many stories are cropping up about hosts putting cameras inside the rooms they are renting.
There have been dozens of stories being reported about cameras popping up in rental properties. Now, some people are disguising cameras inside motion detectors.
Jason Scott took to Twitter to warn people about this new, disturbing way a camera is being hidden:
In “oh, that’s a thing now” news, a colleague of mine thought it odd that there was a single “motion detector” in his AirBNB in the bedroom and voila, it’s an IP camera connected to the web. (He left at 3am, reported, host is suspended, colleague got refund.)
This is the photo Jason's friend snapped of the out-of-place motion detector.
It looks innocent at first glance, but when he decided to inspect further, he realized there was a camera inside.
Jason's friend took the motion sensor out of the wall and noticed a wire and a sticker saying the motion sensor was a camera!
One user said they don't feel as crazy now for doing a "sweep for suspicious electronics."
Another user saw the tweet and was staying in a rental home at the time. After seeing a similar motion detector in the house, they took it off and made sure it wasn't a camera.
This is what the back of a normal motion detector looks like.
If you plan on staying in any type of rental this holiday season, make sure to look around the rooms for anything that seems out of place, like a single motion sensor.
Using the flashlight on your phone creates a reflection on camera lenses that you may not have been able to spot with the naked eye alone.
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