I Found Out My Roommate Has Been Subletting My Room On Airbnb While I’m At Work
I knew something was wrong when I found a stranger’s toothbrush in my bathroom.
My roommate said it belonged to his cousin.
Then I found luggage under my bed.
Then a woman’s jacket hanging in my closet.
I finally checked our apartment’s security camera.
It showed strangers entering while I was at work.
My roommate had been renting my bedroom on Airbnb.
The strangest part was that my bedroom was locked every night when I left.
He had a spare key.
I confronted him.
He admitted it immediately.
He said he was struggling financially and had been renting my room during weekdays.
I told him I was moving out.
Then I checked the Airbnb listing.
The pictures weren’t just of my bedroom.
They included photos of my personal belongings.
My passport.
Family photographs.
Documents on my desk.
I contacted Airbnb and the police.
That’s when we discovered something worse.
My roommate hadn’t just been renting my room.
He had been taking pictures of guests’ IDs.
Apparently, he had created a fake rental arrangement outside the platform and was collecting personal information from people.
Some of those guests had already reported identity theft.
He wasn’t desperate for rent money.
He was running a scam.
The police searched his laptop.
They found folders containing dozens of people’s information.
I still feel sick thinking about how casually I trusted someone who had access to my home.
The last thing the detective told me was:
“You weren’t his first roommate.”
Apparently, he’d done the same thing in two other apartments.
And both previous roommates had moved out believing they were simply dealing with a dishonest guy.
