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Renting an Airbnb comes with its share of risks, including the possibility that your host is monitoring you with a hidden camera.

The practice of using hidden cameras is somewhat widespread. A recent report found that thousands of Airbnb hosts were using closed Facebook groups to gossip about tenants and share security-camera footage of them.

A cybersecurity expert identified a simple trick anyone can use to find out whether their Airbnb host is monitoring them from afar and shared the technique with Business Insider.

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Home-sharing rentals can be unpredictable. While staying in any hotel or rental can come with surprises, listings on apps like Airbnb and Vrbo are managed by individual users, making each short-term rental different.

Privacy-minded renters might worry about the possibility that their host is watching them discreetly using security cameras. The concern is well founded: A recent report found that thousands of Airbnb and Vrbo hosts were gathering in closed Facebook groups to gossip about guests and share embarrassing photos, some of which were captured by security cameras.

Airbnb’s community standards bar hosts from sharing guests‘ personal information, but they don’t stop hosts from monitoring their units with live feeds streamed by security cameras. (Airbnb did, however, recently change its safety standards in the wake of five deaths at a party hosted in an Airbnb last week.)

And while some states have laws against secretly recording people, those wouldn’t prevent hosts from monitoring their homes secretly without sharing the footage.

Internet-enabled security cameras are easy to find and relatively cheap, allowing people to watch a livestream of their unit on a phone or computer while they’re away.

Alex Heid, the chief research and development officer at SecurityScorecard, developed a simple method to detect whether an Airbnb host might be watching their guests live on a hidden camera. Heid shared the technique with Business Insider, as well as backup tricks to help detect hidden cameras.

Here’s how to find out whether your Airbnb host might be discreetly watching you on a live security camera.

Is your Airbnb host spying on you with a hidden camera? Use this simple trick to find out.

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