From a psychopathic view he got a really good setup:
(1) active policeman (2) cultural differences to wash the line between appropriate and inappropriate (3) young woman from far away globetrotting with little experience just staying few nights (4) over the top hospitality (5) sleeping over in his own home + tranquilizers
>(“You’re 21 and sleep in someone’s house for free? You get drunk in his house and blame the host?”)
What caught him was the usual over-confidence chasing the ever bigger high:
>Maglio was finally arrested, for another attack. An Australian woman with two daughters had been staying with him, and woken in the early hours to find her 16-year-old in bed with Maglio. She’d been drugged and was non-responsive for five hours. Incredibly, while Maglio was under house arrest for this incident, the police visited and found two new suitcases in his hallway, and two couch surfers in his living room – one with benzodiazepines in her system.
"I arrived and we chatted and had a great time; everything was going brilliant. Suddenly he started kissing and touching me; when I hesitated it became more forceful and said 'I know you want to fuck'. I ran away and staid at a hostel."
"During the night he suddenly put his hand on my breast. I asked him what the fuck he was doing. He removed his hand and nothing more happened."
"When I arrived I was surprised that we had to share the same bed; that was a complete surprise. During the night he was far too close; nothing happened, but it was very scary."
When I asked "did you report him" none of them did. People usually aren't sure why they didn't either.
And these are just a few examples; ask any woman who has been couchsurfing for a while and they'll have at least one story to tell. Some men, too. Even though I think a small minority of people are responsible for these actions, these kind of stories aren't rare exceptions.
There's no realistic fear or repercussions here, so that can't be the main reason.
I think it's always a complex dynamic, even without outright manipulation. You're always grateful you were allowed to stay at someone's house for free, so even after the fact there's a complex mix of emotions.
Designing a good review system around this is pretty hard, although I have no doubt couchsurfing's system can be improved (insert long rant about mismanagement at couchsurfing).
Most women still loved couchsurfing by the way! I met all of them on the platform after all. I don't want to discourage anyone from using couchsurfing, but at the same time you do need to have a bit of a backbone.