Apple’s AirTags have become a popular tool for tracking lost items, but they are also being used to catch thieves. In Santa Barbara County, a woman who was fed up with her mail being stolen decided to bait the thieves by mailing herself a package containing an AirTag. She shared the tracking information with the sheriff’s office, and deputies found her mail and the mail of more than a dozen other people.
The suspected thieves were arrested. AirTags are quarter-sized devices that emit a Bluetooth signal to a device in the Find My network. The location of the tracker is then viewable on a map in the Find My app.
To use an AirTag, it needs to be registered with your Apple ID and paired with an iPhone, iPad, or another product that has the Find My app. While AirTags are useful for tracking lost items, they have also been used maliciously by stalkers wanting to track another person or their property.
AirTag-assisted mail theft recovery
Apple has condemned any malicious use of their products and has taken steps to prevent unwanted tracking. Law enforcement agencies are also using AirTags to combat theft. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., has been using AirTags in decoy packages to catch thieves and as part of a pilot program to assist in tracking stolen property.
If you decide to use an AirTag to track stolen items, it is important to report the theft to law enforcement and allow them to recover the property and apprehend the thief. While AirTags can lead to the recovery of stolen items, they might not always lead to an arrest unless police have additional evidence. Android users can also detect and disable rogue AirTags using the Tracker Detect app available on the Google Play Store.
The app allows users to scan for nearby AirTags and disable them if necessary. In addition to AirTags, there are other tracking devices on the market, including Tile, Samsung SmartTag, Cube Shadow, and Chipolo ONE Spot. These devices offer similar functionality to AirTags and can be used by both iPhone and Android devices.
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