Bedbug hoax: Tourists anxiously check for uninvited guests but find only pranksters

Posters warning of a bogus bedbug infestation have been plastered all over Athens, targeting tourists renting apartments short-term.

Written in English – and crawling with spelling mistakes – they were stuck outside properties in the city centre.

They claimed that health authorities had ordered ‘private guesthouses’ evacuated ‘to protect the public health of permanent Greek tenants’.

Stamped with ministry and municipality logos, they appeared entirely official – but in fact, they were ‘absolutely false’.

‘Due to a bedbug plague, the guesthouse owners were informed to stop renting out apartments in the neighbourhood … until further notice,’ the message read.

Citing a nonexistent bedbug infestation, visitors were threatened with a 500-euro fine for failure to leave their accommodation.

Greece’s health ministry stressed that the posters were put up by hoaxers, and has now deployed police to investigate.

After videos of the insects breeding and spreading on public transport, in hotels and cinemas in Paris swept the internet, anxiety reached a new high.

So, a similar infestation did not seem entirely implausible in yet another European capital.

But the culprits behind the false posters do not appear to have done it simply for the fun of messing with tourists.

In addition to a cost-of-living crisis, Athens and other parts of Greece face housing problems largely caused by the proliferation of short-term rental apartments – mainly for foreign visitors.

That has helped fuel a surge in long-term rental costs for Greeks, many of whom are priced out of residential areas in central Athens.

Property values are also spiraling, in part because of a ‘golden visa’ program offering residence to foreign property investors.

The ministry said it had asked police to do whatever is necessary to deal with the hoax, adding that ‘nobody is allowed to terrorise and misinform the public’ on public health issues.

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