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Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

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Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#171

Post by LorenPechtel »

jonpurdy wrote: post #82

So I and my wife both have AirTags. Every time we take a walk together, we both get notifications that there's an unknown AirTag with us (each others'). You can pause these notifications for just one day, which means we get notified every single day. Does anyone know how to disable this for specific known AirTags?

Yeah, it feels to me that Apple went too far with their anti-stalker provisions. I believe much of the problem could be eliminated if there was some sort of central filter to the alerts. Phone says to the filter "I see an unknown air tag ID# xxxxx". So long as there is another phone that says "I see a known air tag ID# xxxxx" no alert is triggered. Only when no device claims the tag as known would the phone speak up.

So long as somebody nearby knows the tag it's almost certainly either someone with you or someone simply moving in the same direction and nearby. If it has been planted you'll find out when the planter moves away from you.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#172

Post by InTheArena »

The interesting thing is that I have seen multiple reports of this ( think this is is the third), but in every case, they have destroyed it, lost it, or thrown it away before hand - not given it to the police.

Apple can't tell who the devices is from signals in the wild, but they can figure out who it is if someone gives them the physical device. (Apple tracks the serial number of the device, and from what I understand, can provide purchaser/activator information based on the serial number).

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#173

Post by mortenjorck »

raldi wrote: post #24

The worst part of this is, if you don’t have an iPhone, you’ll never know if you’re being tracked. Edit: Yes, I know there’s an app. Do you think more than 1% of victims will have it installed?

The flip side of this is that if you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have anything participating in the mesh network that’s required for the AirTag to operate. Of course, someone else’s iPhone could still pick it up and relay the position, but this becomes considerably less likely in a scenario where the adversary is attempting to track a vehicle.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#174

Post by ceejayoz »

ericcholis wrote: post #134
tshaddox wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are your Apple accounts in a Family Sharing group? I have no idea if that would affect this feature, but my wife and I also have AirTags on our keys and we travel together plenty and have never received this notification.

Same. I just wish you could transfer ownership of a tag between family members.

You can. Disconnect it from one person's iCloud, connect it to the other. We did it with our cat's AirTag when I got a newer iPhone, so we could use the more accurate location.

I do wish there was a share feature, though.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#175

Post by pengaru »

kemayo wrote: post #86

This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible. GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service -- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you mig…

> This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible.

Or it's news because unlike GPS trackers, AirTags create the ability to be psychologically abusive to victims by attaching them to cars or dropping them in purses at little cost, risk, or effort.

Wanna take a guess as to how many assholes out there just want to make a mouthy cunt from the bar lose sleep vs. actually steal a car or abduct someone? My personal guess is there's many orders of magnitude more of the former, and AirTags appear to be a perfect tool for that.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#176

Post by evan_ »

323 wrote: post #146
kemayo wrote: post #86

This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible. GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service -- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you mig…

> AirTags will also beep if they're separated from their owner. Why didn't the AirTag beep in this situation? She said she went around the car trying to find it.

I’m sure it’s trivial to physically disable the beep speaker.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#177

Post by largbae »

bittercynic wrote: post #159
newhotelowner wrote: post #51

Apple AirTag Linked to Increasing Number of Car Thefts, Canadian Police Report - https://nypost.com/2021/12/07/carjackers-are-using-this-new-...

Why does the thief bother to track your car back to your house to steal later? Why not just drive around the residential areas where the cars are parked and just choose one at the time you want to do the theft?

Not a car thief but it's an interesting question. Maybe given the VIN and a few hours/days you can lookup and make a correct key for that type of car. So the tag is placed when the VIN is collected and the theft is smooth with a valid key.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#178

Post by sangnoir »

noja wrote: post #138
jonpurdy wrote: post #82

So I and my wife both have AirTags. Every time we take a walk together, we both get notifications that there's an unknown AirTag with us (each others'). You can pause these notifications for just one day, which means we get notified every single day. Does anyone know how to disable this for specific known AirTags?

I am given the choice what I want to do, and chose the "always ignore this AirTag" option.

This opens up a new "evil maid" attack: secretly tracking anyone whose phone you have access to.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#180

Post by pmlamotte »

mortenjorck wrote: post #173
raldi wrote: post #24

The worst part of this is, if you don’t have an iPhone, you’ll never know if you’re being tracked. Edit: Yes, I know there’s an app. Do you think more than 1% of victims will have it installed?

The flip side of this is that if you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have anything participating in the mesh network that’s required for the AirTag to operate. Of course, someone else’s iPhone could still pick it up and relay the position, but this becomes considerably less likely in a scenario where the adversary is attempting to track a vehicle.

If tracking the vehicle to the destination is the goal it's fairly likely someone with an iPhone will pass by the vehicle at some point. Especially in an apartment complex or public shared parking.
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