PETALING JAYA (May 8): A woman’s occupational habit stood her in good stead when she foiled a peeping Tom’s months-long bedroom recordings in his Airbnb unit in eastern China.
The man was listed on the home-sharing platform as a “Superhost” – an experienced host regarded as a shining example, but he had been filming his unwitting guests since March, The Star reported yesterday.
The foil was uncovered when the latest tenant, referred to by her online alias Yunfei, became suspicious with some unusual set-ups when she checked into the man’s flat in Qingdao in Shandong province last Wednesday night.
She told Beijing Youth Daily she worked in internet and information security, and always inspected her hotel rooms.
“I found a motion sensor monitor at the flat’s entrance and two in the two bedrooms, which is odd since the flat had not been renovated for smart-home automation,” she related.
“I turned the sensors to face the wall and covered them with stickers.”
She then scrutinised the smoke detectors and television – typical hiding places for cameras – and disconnected the television’s power supply. Next she picked up the router, which was positioned to face a bed, and discovered an unusual light, reported South China Morning Post.
Suspecting it to be a hidden camera, she said: “I checked it carefully and found the line arrangement was different from the usual ones.”
By comparing the router with a picture of the product, she realised it had been altered. So she unscrewed it and found a digital memory card inside.
“I immediately called the police after finding the card,” she said. “They came and took away the equipment.”
The police contacted Airbnb, which refunded the tenant her 1,700 yuan (RM1,043) for the three-night stay she did not make use of.
“We sincerely apologised to the client and have taken the flat off the apartment listings,” an Airbnb spokeswoman was quoted telling Beijing Youth Daily.
The police gave the man a 20-day detention.
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