Woman finds suspicious hole in NUS library toilet cubicle, suspects it's a hidden cam, campus security investigates

A woman in the National University of Singapore (NUS) went to a female restroom and spotted a suspicious-looking hole in the toilet cubicle she was occupying.

Her immediate thought was that the hole in the toilet cubicle wall could house a spying camera device of sorts.

Her experience was recounted on Xiaohongshu on Sep. 2.

She wrote that she made the discovery at around 8pm that evening.

The restroom, according to the woman, was on the third floor of the NUS Medicine+Science Library.

Took close up photos

The woman wrote that she first noticed a flashing light coming from the cubicle wall.

Upon taking a closer look, she said she saw that there was a hole that apparently held an object, which appeared to be a camera lens.

The woman said she took a close-up photo of the object and sent it to a friend.

When she turned back to the wall, the supposed flashing light vanished, but came back on after a short while.

Stuffed tissue paper into hole

She then grew more concerned as she suspected that there was active surveillance happening in real time.

She proceeded to stuff some tissue paper into the hole to cover it up.

But right after that, the flashing light seemingly stopped, before returning in less than a minute, she claimed.

Informed campus security

After she spoke to a friend over a video call, she left the restroom and made the post on Xiaohongshu, asking for advice on what she should do.

At around 8:35pm, she found the hotline of the NUS Campus Emergency and Security, and made a report.

She remained outside the restroom waiting for the campus security personnel, who arrived about 20 minutes later.

No device found

However, when campus security inspected the cubicle, no device was found, according to the woman.

There was only a white, pin-like object in the hole.

The campus security informed the woman that they will check CCTV footage and investigate the issue, the woman said.

Continued to update story

Updates about what happened in the aftermath of her report were provided in a comment on her original post, along with an image, which compared what she saw before and after the campus security officers arrived.

In an update to her post on Sep. 3, she shared that an NUS professor had called her that afternoon to offer counselling for her trauma, and asked her to let the school know if she needed more support.

NUS's investigation: Screw for securing toilet paper dispenser

An NUS spokesperson told Mothership on Sep. 4 that it was aware of the incident and have investigated it.

Campus security conducted a sweep of the premises and found no recording devices or suspicious items in the toilet cubicle in question or in other toilets in the building.

The spokesperson explained that "the shiny and reflective item spotted by the student is actually part of the screw for securing the toilet paper dispenser in the adjacent cubicle, and not any hidden device".

The hole has since been patched up by maintenance crew at NUS.

Based on further checks, only one other female individual had entered the toilet from the time the student stepped out until the arrival of the security team.

However, this individual spent a very brief moment in the toilet, too short a time to remove or tamper with any hidden devices, the spokesperson clarified.

Top images from 小红薯687C609E/Xiaohongshu