“Who was watching this?” »: Hidden camera found in London, Ontario. Airbnb
A woman is speaking out after being secretly filmed in her bedroom while staying at an Airbnb in London, Ontario. She says the camera was found in a phone charger in her bedroom.
Chloé Le Brument and her partner, James, took a quick trip to London for a music festival called Rock the Park in July. They decided to stay in an Airbnb room inside the hosts’ family home. They were greeted by a house guest and shown to their room.
“The room itself was small. Just a bed, a desk. It was very clean, simple. We didn’t think about it, we didn’t plan to spend a lot of time there,” Le Brument said.
She says James hurriedly packed the room the next morning, eager to get home. But by mistake, he left with an object that he thought belonged to Le Brument.
Less than 10 minutes after checking out, the couple said they received a call from the host, “informing us that a charger was missing from the room” that belonged to a previous guest.
The couple said they would send the charger to the host as soon as they could. But the host’s behavior got worse. Le Brument says he frantically hara*sed the couple with text messages after their first phone call, telling them they needed to return the device immediately, eventually saying he would charge them $70 if they didn’t.
“We feel a lot of pressure to return this charger…we said, ‘What’s going on with this charger?’ There must be gold in it.
Le Brument says it was his 15-year-old son who discovered there was a hidden camera inside.
A few hours later, the family notified the police. London police investigators executed a search warrant and said they found video evidence of voyeurism and that the couple was captured in the seized files.
Abinash Samal, from London, 41, has since been arrested and charged with voyeurism. He is due in court on October 5.
A statement from an Airbnb spokesperson said the company “prohibits hidden cameras.” Shortly after the guest brought this allegation to our attention in July, we took steps to remove this host from the platform.
“The customer who reported the incident to our security team has been fully refunded.”
But the couple remains in shock and disbelief that a scenario from a movie could play out in their own lives.
“We found out the camera had a live streaming option, so you really start to think about it, like who’s watching this? Or who could have watched this?
Le Brument says his story is a warning and warning to those who rent Airbnbs to be aware of their surroundings, inspect the room carefully and look for things that are out of place.
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