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These days it is often cheaper to rent an entire house than it is to stay in a hotel room when you take a trip.
This is especially true when you factor in the benefits you get from renting a home on services like Airbnb or Vrbo versus paying for a suite at a hotel.
However, while one would assume that if you are staying in a hotel room there wouldn’t be any hidden cameras keeping an eye on what you are doing there, the same can’t be said for when you rent out someone’s actual home.
For example, back in 2016, one Airbnb host admitted “using hidden cameras to film guests and swapped sex videos with other users.”
So what can you do to make sure that doesn’t happen to you?
Well, according to private investigator Aaron Bond there are certain places you can look for cameras in a home to see if you are being spied on by the host.
Some of the most common places for hidden cameras in rental homes are alarm clocks, smoke detectors, televisions, lamps, mirrors, air filters and books on shelves.
“Cameras in public places are used to catch you in compromising positions, so often they are positioned either high or low to get the best viewing angle. If something seems out of place, simply leave the area and report the object to the authorities,” Bond told Huffington Post UK.
Bond also advises looking for objects out of their “natural position” and for small holes in objects or walls.
If you spot something suspicious, he says to go near where you think there might be a hidden camera and see if your phone starts to buzz from electromagnetic interference.
Then, just to be sure, you can try turning off all of the lights and and use your camera app to detect infrared cameras.
“You can use the flashlight on your camera in a dimly lit room to detect the glass on the camera lens,” he said. “They will reflect if there are cameras in your presence.”
In 2021, a former hacker turned cybersecurity expert went viral with a TikTok video on how to find hidden cameras in a Airbnb or hotel room.
In that video, he mentioned many of the same places where hidden cameras might be placed, but he also talked about how to detect two-way mirrors and night vision cameras.
Following these tips will certainly you can feel more assured that no one is spying on you.