Apple supervisor confirming, and a map tracking me and telling me that it was on my persons going almost 80 miles an hour for 40 minutes.
So no?
you’re welcome. We went through everything with several Apple associates and a supervisor. Police assisted. I was lucky it fell off when it did. And 3 days later, the device was erased from my items detected because it was destroyed. Not everyone will be as lucky.I have no doubt this is how thieves are operating these days. And I'm sure they aren't buying the airtags by legitimate means. My only doubt is the tag falling off the Bronco part of the scenario. I think this may be why so many comments a about the AirTag being associates with another vehicle. Also, my understanding of how tracking works is that it doesn't require a continuous connection through your phone, but only a few pings in synch with your movement. Not sure how many pings it takes. This would be a good question for the Apple folks. In your shoes, I would totally assume nefarious motives and take similar actions as you. Thanks for the heads up!
Holy crap! i would have never thought of something like this, but it makes perfect sense for the criminal element.I don’t get on here as often as I would like to, so if there is any delay in responding, please accept my apologies. I’ll try and keep up through email notifications.
As this could affect a lot of us here, I wanted to make you all aware:
Some of you may be aware of the recent AirTag situation where people are using them to track others.
After leaving an industry gala Thursday evening, I was driving. While driving, I don’t answer my phone unless an alert goes through Apple CarPlay, but I have my phone on Do Not Disturb from 9pm to 8am, so all alerts were silent.
May be worth mentioning, at the event, we parked in the hotel’s parking garage.
I got home, went into the kitchen and placed my handbag and phone on the counter when I noticed an alert (you’ll see photos on this post, the alert I received was from the Find My iPhone app stating “Unknown Accessory Detected Near You.”)
When I clicked on the alert, it showed that a portion of our route home was tracked, the red circles in the other photo indicating where my location update was seen. The alerts stopped at the entrance to our neighborhood.
We checked our clothes, my bag, shoes, and everywhere outside and inside of the Bronco that we could.
As the app suggested, we called our local PD, and two officers came by and started a case and also helped us search the Bronco. One of the officers also worked for Verizon, our provider, and instructed that we go to Verizon or contact Apple.
We downloaded an app called BLE Scanner 4.0 to see if any devices near the Bronco was trying to emit a Bluetooth signal.
My husband even went to the last location on the tracking map to see if he could find an AirTag but could not (it’s a busy area so we assume it was run over and destroyed, or ricocheted somewhere).
Do note that the owner of the AirTag can be retrieved through Apple by request of police (this is why it’s important to have a case number with the police and either Apple or your cell phone provider if you’re not an Apple owner) if you found it and have it in your possession.
I don’t have Android so I can’t speak on specifics of the steps needed to locate or report an AirTag with Apple if you have one.
These devices have been used to track people and vehicles, and I assume my Bronco was targeted as a two door hard top isn’t common at the moment, they don’t want my old ass.
I’ve been in contact with a local reporter that is calling me on Wednesday for one of her investigative reports.
Here is what Apple sent to me if you get a notification that an AirTag is found near you and what to give to police:
What to do if you find an AirTag or get an alert that an AirTag is with you https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227
The law enforcement information they need to work with Apple is located at: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/government-information.html
I’ve included photos of both the alert I received from Find My IPhone, the map that tracked me, and links to recent TikToks that I received and saw recently about this.
Stay safe folks. Apple needs to get this under control. While I was talking to the first rep, during our call, the reports and comments on their site about this went from 34 to 98. It’s clearly an issue.
I’m a bit shaken up by this, obviously.
Also, you’ll see an option to disable it, but you cannot do this unless you have it.
We live in the Houston area as well, north near conroe. My husband has had 2 F250’s stolen in Houston. 1 at Papas off Richmond and then 1 off 249– they followed us into a bar/grill parking lot and waited for us to go in before popping the lock and stealing it. Ugh I’m glad your bronco was okay. This scares me though. I hate to think they are targeting broncos now.
