Small and relatively cheap, Apple AirTags are advertised as an easy way to find misplaced items, but they’ve also been used to illegally track people.
“We’ve had about a handful of cases where someone has found an air tag either in their personal belongings, on their vehicle, or inside their vehicle,” said Constable Robert Reeves of the police department. of Irving.
While driving through Irving on Sunday, a woman told police she received an alert on her phone that an AirTag was traveling with her.
Stunned, she went straight to the Irving Police Department. Less than 10 minutes after he arrived, officers found one taped to the bottom of his car.
“It’s an uneasy feeling,” Reeves said.
The woman told NBC 5 that she didn’t know how long the device had been there or who might have put it there. Detectives will now try to find out who the device is registered to.
“We’re looking at maybe a harassment or stalking offence, which is a felony or a serious misdemeanor,” Reeves said.
On its website, Apple says AirTags are designed to discourage unwanted tracking and will send an alert if one is traveling with you.
It’s unclear how long it may take to receive the AirTag notification, but police say if you do – don’t ignore the alert and contact law enforcement.
Irving police say GPS tracking devices have benefits. Officers often suggest people use them to track a loved one with dementia or an elderly relative in case they go missing, but this latest case highlights the harm.
“With every piece of technology, someone can use it in a positive way or someone can use it in a negative way,” Reeves said.
In a statement to NBC 5, Apple added:
“AirTag was designed to help people locate their belongings, not to track the people or property of others, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. a societal issue for a long time, and we’ve taken that concern seriously in designing AirTag. That’s why the Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption, and why we’ve innovated with the First-ever proactive system to alert you to unwanted tracking.We hope this starts an industry trend for others to provide this kind of proactive warnings in their products as well.
On its website, the company said misuse of AirTags is rare, but it has used the unique serial numbers associated with the devices to help law enforcement identify and charge suspects.
The company has provided this link on what to do if you receive an alert that an AirTag or other Apple device is tracking you. It also includes information about phone settings in order to receive alerts.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227
