Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/Apple
People worldwide misuse Apple's AirTag in the most horrible ways. While some bad actors turn to the tracker for stalking, others use it to track their victims or vehicles.
Using AirTags for stealing cars is now common practice, but police also tell owners to plant their own trackers into their vehicles to help provide real-time location information if the worst-case scenario happens.
A 20-year-old car thief from Eagan, Minnesota, learned the hard way that Apple's AirTag can be a double-edged sword. The device betrayed him, eventually exposing a new scam that could become more widespread in the United States.
Ron Vasquez was looking for a new vehicle when he came across a good deal on Facebook Marketplace. He contacted the owner and decided to meet in a parking lot to see the truck.
Vasquez says everything looked fishy, from the brand-new key to the title paper and the VIN code that didn't show up in online checks. However, the deal breaker was a notification his wife received on her iPhone.
An AirTag was tracking their location. It was planted in the truck, as the owner wanted to sell the vehicle and track its location. Vasquez called the police and then learned all the details.
The 20-year-old suspect posted adverts for his and his friends' cars online. Once he met with potential buyers, he handed them false papers, new keys, and crafted VINs to hide the real vehicle identity. After the buyer paid for the car and drove away in it, the suspect used an AirTag planted into the vehicle to see where it was parked. He then stole the car and used the original papers and keys to cover his tracks.
The suspect was taken into custody and confessed to nine other cases where he sold his and his friends' cars and stole them back using location information provided by the hidden AirTag.
Apple's AirTag is a pill-shaped device powered by a CR2032 battery and uses the Find My network to communicate with the master iPhone. Because it doesn't come with a built-in network module, the AirTag shares its location using nearby iPhones, connecting to the Find My network only to transmit the coordinates. The owner can see the AirTag's location on their iPhone in the Find My application.
Its small form factor allows the AirTag to be installed virtually anywhere in a vehicle. However, Apple equipped the device with anti-stalking protection, sending a notification to nearby iPhones when moving with them. It's how Vasquez's wife got alerted of the AirTag, as her iPhone received the notification, eventually exposing the scheme that helped the thief make a small fortune in less than a month.
The suspect will appear in court in September.
A 20-year-old car thief from Eagan, Minnesota, learned the hard way that Apple's AirTag can be a double-edged sword. The device betrayed him, eventually exposing a new scam that could become more widespread in the United States.
Ron Vasquez was looking for a new vehicle when he came across a good deal on Facebook Marketplace. He contacted the owner and decided to meet in a parking lot to see the truck.
Vasquez says everything looked fishy, from the brand-new key to the title paper and the VIN code that didn't show up in online checks. However, the deal breaker was a notification his wife received on her iPhone.
An AirTag was tracking their location. It was planted in the truck, as the owner wanted to sell the vehicle and track its location. Vasquez called the police and then learned all the details.
The 20-year-old suspect posted adverts for his and his friends' cars online. Once he met with potential buyers, he handed them false papers, new keys, and crafted VINs to hide the real vehicle identity. After the buyer paid for the car and drove away in it, the suspect used an AirTag planted into the vehicle to see where it was parked. He then stole the car and used the original papers and keys to cover his tracks.
The suspect was taken into custody and confessed to nine other cases where he sold his and his friends' cars and stole them back using location information provided by the hidden AirTag.
Apple's AirTag is a pill-shaped device powered by a CR2032 battery and uses the Find My network to communicate with the master iPhone. Because it doesn't come with a built-in network module, the AirTag shares its location using nearby iPhones, connecting to the Find My network only to transmit the coordinates. The owner can see the AirTag's location on their iPhone in the Find My application.
Its small form factor allows the AirTag to be installed virtually anywhere in a vehicle. However, Apple equipped the device with anti-stalking protection, sending a notification to nearby iPhones when moving with them. It's how Vasquez's wife got alerted of the AirTag, as her iPhone received the notification, eventually exposing the scheme that helped the thief make a small fortune in less than a month.
The suspect will appear in court in September.
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