An Airbnb rental property in the United States, which was shown in a viral social media post about hidden cameras, did not have any undisclosed recording device, the police have said. The house in Philadelphia had caused concerns among social media users after a woman claimed that she found "more than 10 hidden cameras" during her stay there.
The police carried out a thorough investigation after the woman's tweet went viral and said they did not find any hidden camera in the sprinkler as alleged by the guest.
"The incident was investigated by our Special Victims Unit. The detective(s) did not find any hidden or undisclosed cameras. The fire sprinklers are sprinklerheads," a Police Department spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer in an email.
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The tweet was posted by user @foxytaughtyou on Sunday in which she claimed there were multiple cameras in the property. The tweet had received more than 61,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.
In subsequent tweets, the woman had posted images of the "hidden cameras" found showers and bedrooms. She said that the cameras were disguised as sprinkler systems warning the travellers to be cautious when booking accommodations.
"The Airbnb was listed under a business name and we never met the owner. Every time we tried calling them, even at our arrival they'll never answer the phone. They only respond through message so we do not know how they look, sound or if it's a male or female," she added.
The woman had further alleged that after reporting the incident to Airbnb and the Philadelphia Police, they were simply moved to another property by the home-sharing platform.
"This is so UNSAFE and scary," she wrote in the caption. She also explained that she discovered the cameras after going out for the evening, coming home and falling asleep on the sofa. When they woke up the next morning, they noticed what appeared to be a crudely concealed camera on the ceiling pointing straight down at them.
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An Airbnb spokesperson told Entrepreneur that the police did not find any camera and the case has been closed.
"We thoroughly looked into this allegation as we do for all safety reports. Today, we spoke directly with the lead detective from the Philadelphia Police Department who responded to the complaint and investigated the property. He confirmed that he did not find any hidden or undisclosed cameras and that the fire sprinklers had regular sprinklerheads. The detective also confirmed that they plan to close this case," the spokesperson said.
