Summary
A Hobart Airbnb host, listed as The A Family, lodged a $1,755 damage claim two days after a guest (identified as Alban) checked out, submitting a $1,500 invoice for “foreign object extraction” and a photo purporting to show an overflowing, clogged toilet. Alban and others online suspected the image was AI-doctored; the ABC ran the photo through Google’s SynthID detector, which indicated it had been made or edited with Google AI.
Airbnb investigated and rejected the host’s damage claim, refunding the guest almost $2,000. The ABC reported that invoices supplied by the host contained invalid business details; The A Family did not respond to requests for comment and the specific listing is no longer active on the platform.