{"id":11777,"date":"2022-02-10T12:46:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/10\/how-airtags-are-being-used-to-stalk-people-and-steal-cars\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T12:46:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T12:46:10","slug":"how-airtags-are-being-used-to-stalk-people-and-steal-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/10\/how-airtags-are-being-used-to-stalk-people-and-steal-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"How AirTags Are Being Used to Stalk People and Steal Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Steve Heap\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apple\u2019s AirTags<\/a> are small keyring-sized discs that you can attach to your bag or keys to help find them if they go missing. This useful technology, however, is ripe for abuse. Here\u2019s why AirTags have been making the headlines for the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Problem With AirTags?<\/h2>\n

Though AirTags were introduced by Apple in 2020, the technology isn\u2019t a new innovation. A company called Tile released small battery-powered tracking devices<\/a> called \u201ctiles\u201d in 2015 which used the same basic premise. They work almost identically to an AirTag, allowing a user to detect an item by proximity (30 meters or 100 ft over Bluetooth 4.0) and connecting to the wider \u201ccrowd GPS\u201d network.<\/p>\n

When a user with the Tile app comes into contact with one of the trackers, an update is sent anonymously to the owner indicating the general location of the item. The problem with this approach is that it required users to already use the Tile app to work, so its utility is limited to populous areas with lots of Tile users.<\/p>\n

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Apple\u2019s AirTags work almost identically. You can use your iPhone to detect an AirTag at a distance of around 100 meters (or 300 ft) thanks to the use of ultra-wideband Bluetooth<\/a> and Apple\u2019s U1 chip<\/a> on newer smartphones. Each AirTag can be detected by other iPhones running iOS 14.5 or later, sending the owner an anonymous update of where the item was last seen when it comes into range.<\/p>\n

Since AirTags piggyback the existing network of iPhones<\/a>, they are far more useful than Tile\u2019s implementation of the same concept. Users no longer need to run an app or use a third-party service to play a part in the wider \u201ccrowd GPS\u201d network. This means there are many more chances for your AirTag to be picked up by an iPhone and have its location recorded.<\/p>\n

This is the reason you should probably buy an AirTag over a Tile<\/a> if you use an iPhone and want to keep track of your personal belongings. It\u2019s also the reason that AirTags are seen as a much greater privacy risk than any tracker that came before.<\/p>\n

How AirTags Are Being Used by Stalkers<\/h2>\n

Since AirTags are small, they can easily be slipped inside of a bag or a pocket without being noticed. The AirTag can then be tracked using the wider \u201ccrowd GPS\u201d network when out of range or using an iPhone that\u2019s close enough to use local tracking.<\/p>\n

AirTags have a speaker on-board that allows the owner to emit a sound, but this speaker is also used as a privacy safeguard. If the tracker is away from its owner for a set amount of time, it will chirp repeatedly until it is found or disabled. When AirTags first launched, this window was three days. Apple has since updated the window to between 8 and 24 hours.<\/p>\n

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Another safeguard delivers an \u201cAirTag Found Moving With You\u201d message to iPhone users if an AirTag they do not own appears to be tracking them. They can then tap on this notification which opens Apple\u2019s Find My app, where they can tap \u201cPlay Sound\u201d and attempt to locate the AirTag.<\/p>\n

There have been a few high-profile examples of AirTags being used to stalk people already. A model in New York had an AirTag slipped into her coat pocket<\/a> which tracked her movements for five hours before she noticed an alert on her iPhone. Another woman was tracked from a theater to her home<\/a> where she noticed an unknown vehicle parked outside after receiving the alert. The vehicle left as she approached.<\/p>\n

In another incident, a Connecticut man was charged with first-degree stalking<\/a> after hiding an AirTag inside a vehicle following a domestic dispute. This underlines the severity of tracking a person against their will in a legal context. AirTags may make it easier than ever, but the law is the same whether you\u2019re using a sophisticated battery-powered GPS connected to a SIM card<\/a> or a $30 coin-sized AirTag.<\/p>\n

Car Thieves Are Tracking Vehicles With AirTags<\/h2>\n

There are emerging reports of car thieves also using AirTags to track vehicles, both for stalking purposes and car theft. Once a thief locates a car they want to steal, they may attempt to conceal an AirTag somewhere on the vehicle and then trace its location. The vehicle can then later be tracked and stolen.<\/p>\n

One police department reported<\/a> that only five (of thousands) of reported thefts were linked to AirTags. Victims of stalking have found AirTags hidden in wheel wells<\/a>, a tactic that could be used by would-be car thieves. Thus far, car thefts involving AirTags seem to be rare, but the potential is there.<\/p>\n

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Another issue with AirTags on cars is that if the tracking device is located outside of the vehicle, the driver may not realize it\u2019s there even if it\u2019s making a sound. A noisy urban environment may make the sound difficult to hear, or the driver may think nothing of the sound.<\/p>\n

Only iPhone users get passive alerts about AirTags that are tracking them, and older iPhones may not receive an alert at all.\u00a0Android users need to download an app<\/a> to get this functionality, which requires a manual scan.<\/p>\n

So-Called \u201cSilent AirTags\u201d Raise Further Concerns<\/h2>\n

The one AirTag safeguard that\u2019s designed to help everyone\u2014regardless of whether you use an iPhone or Android smartphone\u2014is the sound an AirTag emits after a certain period of absence from its \u201chome\u201d device. But the emergence of modified \u201cSilent AirTags<\/a>\u201d that appeared\u00a0for sale on eBay and Etsy raises even greater privacy concerns over the potential for abuse.<\/p>\n

By disabling the speaker inside the AirTag then reassembling the tracker, these modified AirTags have no stalking safeguard beyond the digital signal that can be detected by iPhones and Android devices with Apple\u2019s tracking app. The seller claimed that the modified AirTags were designed for use in instances where the AirTags may be away from home for longer than a day. Modifying AirTags in such a way isn\u2019t necessarily illegal.<\/p>\n

The Etsy listing was removed, and an eBay search for \u201csilent airtag\u201d or \u201cstealth airtag\u201d doesn\u2019t (at the time of writing) reveal any items for sale. Nevertheless, the idea is out there and the modification is easy to make.<\/p>\n

How to Detect Nearby AirTags<\/h2>\n

iPhone users should rely on iOS\u2019 built-in tracking detection and pay attention to any alerts they receive. You can tap on the notification and then play a sound if you think an AirTag is being used to track you. The Find My app will then provide you with instructions on how to disable it.<\/p>\n

Android users must scan manually<\/a> using Apple\u2019s Tracker Detect<\/a>\u00a0app. This app can detect any tracker that\u2019s compatible with the Find My network and will also help users to play a sound to locate and disable the tracker if foul play is suspected. One How-To Geek staff member found that the Android app isn\u2019t great at detecting AirTags, but it\u2019s still worth a try if you suspect something.<\/p>\n

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