It's no urban myth: From Texas and California to Malaysia and Ireland , innocent tourists and vacationers looking for a romantic getaway have found hidden spy cams in everything from air vents to smoke detectors in their Airbnb. Internet forums like Reddit are filled with stories about how people found cameras in their Airbnb or rentals , too. But don't ditch your vacation plans quite yet.
Yes, secret voyeur cams sound scary, but they're easy to report for a snappy refund or automatic relocation. And with our tricks below, you can spot them with just a few minutes and a trusty smartphone. Let's start with the easiest methods.
A guest-friendly router may deserve a closer look. 1. Check out the local Wi-Fi network Most Airbnbs offer some kind of guest Wi-Fi.
Log into it and hop into your settings to view the Wi-Fi network and see if you can find all the connected devices. Use the provided login and on-board router passwords or app to look for a section about connected or attached devices. Or if these options aren't available, you can try out a third-party app like the Wireless Network Watcher .
(Note for the techies, the arp -a command line won't work here, because it displays only your own computer's cache of connected device info, and the Airbnb owner probably didn't leave their laptop behind.) Now look for any unexpected online devices that don't match up with any of the technology in the house. You may think that voyeurs would avoid connecting their hidden cams to local Wi-.