The Apple AirTag is a tracker that lets you find lost objects easily using an iPhone, but its purpose is tarnished by criminals who use it to locate their victims. On Sunday (19), a 19-year-old girl reported being the target of persecution by her ex-boyfriend through the device.
A resident of the city of Melbourne, Australia, the woman preferred not to identify herself to report the case. The victim claims that discovered the pursuit by receiving notifications of an AirTag on his iPhone, signaling that there was an unknown tracker activated in your proximity while shopping. The incident occurred on February 10th.
“I was doing some shopping throughout the day and I kept getting the notifications, but I had no idea where they were coming from”, says the victim, who panicked and tried to look for the tracker – about the size of a coin – on his car.
The young woman then tried to remember the people who had recent access to the vehicle. “The only person who was in or near my car was my boyfriend,” she recalls. The Australian got in touch with the suspect, who denied having planted any device in the car, but confessed to the act after the young woman threatened to report the case to the police.
“I felt violated and I was in a state of shock,” said the victim. “It just blew my mind that someone I trusted so much could do something like that.”
Unfortunately, the young woman’s case is not isolated. We reported in December that two women sued Apple after being harassed by ex-partners using AirTags. The company tries to mitigate incidents with security features, but despite the benefits of trackers, there are still risks with these devices.
(updated Feb 20, 2023 at 5:26 pm)