Protect your privacy traveling with tips to spot hidden cameras in rentals
Hidden cameras can come in all shapes and sizes
Crime Scene store owner Tom Arriola shares advice on how to spot a hidden camera in the wake of a lawsuit filed by renters who found a hidden camera in a Scottsdale Airbnb. FOX 10's Lindsey Ragas has more.
PHOENIX - We first told you about a hidden camera a family found in a Scottsdale Airbnb, raising the question: What should you look out for the next time you travel?
It's a question that anyone looking for a sense of privacy in a new location could use an answer to and some answers were provided by a local crime scene store.
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If you've ever stayed at a place that isn't yours, you may have wondered if your privacy is being invaded.
So how can you find out? We went to Crime Scene to get those answers.
What they're saying:
Hidden cameras come in all different shapes and sizes.
A smoke detector, an alarm clock, a light bulb and a doll, just to name a few.
Crime Scene mastermind Tom Arriola says if you're skeptical, the first thing you should do in a hotel or short-term rental is to look up.
"Look up at the ceiling and see if you can see that little red light that comes out for the infrared. Some people also would use their camera phone and shine it up and the infrared light shows up differently to the camera than it does to your eyes. So you'd be able to see light that you might not even be able to see with your naked eye," he said.
Dig deeper:
The next thing you can do is shine a flashlight at the ceiling and walls when it's pitch-black.
"You'd look for reflected light. So if there's a lens in the camera, it's made out of plastic or glass and that's going to reflect the light in a way that's, say, a smoke detectors plastic would not reflect back. So that's how you would see the camera in a hidden device," Arriola said.
Not all hidden cameras are that easy to detect.
Some devices have a camera, transmitter, antenna and remote receiver connected to it.
"There's devices that can find the Wi-Fi signal and just like the game of hot and cold, it finds the Wi-Fi signal and says, go that way. You're closer and closer you're getting closer and there it is and you wind up right next to this [toy doll]," he said.
Big picture view:
Tom doesn't sell any of these items at his crime scene store but says camera detectors can be found online, ranging from $100 to $4,000.
"So the other ones that are even more expensive can detect a phone signal," he said. "Some of the very best cameras can broadcast for miles by cell phone. So you've got cameras, you can get the 5g, the 3g, all the T-mobile signals and all that. So the more you spend, the more signals you can catch."