Apple AirTags Being Used By Thieves To Track High-End Cars To Steal (arstechnica.com) 42
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: This week, Canadian police announced that car thieves have been using AirTags to track vehicles they want to steal. York Regional Police (which serves an area north of Toronto) revealed that it has investigated five incidents in the past three months in which thieves have hidden AirTags on vehicles parked in public. Later, the thieves tracked down their targets to steal the cars at their leisure.
Other Bluetooth-based trackers have been available for some time now, but the ubiquity of Apple devices (which communicate with AirTags via Apple's Find My app) means it's generally faster and more accurate to track something remotely via an AirTag than a rival device like a Tile. And while they undoubtedly make it easier for users to recover lost stuff, the tags are being exploited by criminals. Apple did build some anti-stalking functions into AirTags -- if your Apple device detects that you're being followed by an unfamiliar device, it will alert you, as long as you're running iOS 14.5 or newer.
Other Bluetooth-based trackers have been available for some time now, but the ubiquity of Apple devices (which communicate with AirTags via Apple's Find My app) means it's generally faster and more accurate to track something remotely via an AirTag than a rival device like a Tile. And while they undoubtedly make it easier for users to recover lost stuff, the tags are being exploited by criminals. Apple did build some anti-stalking functions into AirTags -- if your Apple device detects that you're being followed by an unfamiliar device, it will alert you, as long as you're running iOS 14.5 or newer.
Re: That feature was an interesting choice (Score:1)
Maybe Android users have nothing worth stealing.
Re: That feature was an interesting choice (Score:4, Insightful)
Worst car? ... (Score:2)
Always drive the worst car in the street.
... or drive a pink car [slashdot.org]
(obligatory /. reference)
Drive a Stick (Score:2)
Drive a stick and most thieves won't be able to drive your car and even the ones that can will pass it up because it will be harder to sell. I leave my car doors unlocked. Every once and a while someone rummages through my stuff and steals my change, but I've never had a car stolen.
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Yup. I look for manual transmissions when buying used cars as there are some excellent bargains, er, or were pre-covid.
Used to leave my rag top unlocked. Thieves would just cut the top to break in so best to just let them have their fun with the glove box search. Had a battery disabler so it wouldn't wander.
Re: That feature was an interesting choice (Score:2)
But they're not letting Android users use the anti stalking measure.
That's because they don't know Android users' email addresses. And the AirTags don't communicate with Android phones, so Apple wouldn't know which Android phones they are close to. If Apple offered an AirTag app for Android that would use your phone to bridge other people's AirTags to the internet, and also send you notices when an AirTag is following you around, would you sign up for it?
I guess this raises the issue that Apple has a big advantage that there are iPhones around most anywhere so they can inst
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This was always going to happen. (Score:3)
I'm sure the same thing happens with Tile as well. The fact that they are sometimes used for nefarious purpose is not good of course. But there need to be metrics to quantify that good or ill.
a: How many lost or stolen items are found or recovered with AirTags?
b: How many items are stolen using AirTags to lead the thieves to the item?
if ( $a > $b): Then this article is a whole lot of much ado about nothing.
Re:This was always going to happen. (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to disagree with you. Apple is facilitating stalking and is extorting in order to be rid of that stalking.
If Apple wants Airtags, Apple needs to require the owner of said Airtag to check-in through some kind of direct contact with it on a regular enough basis that it cannot be used for long-term tracking. Either that means the Airtag is used in conjunction with the owner's own fixed-location wireless network so it's likely remaining on the owner's premises, or else the owner needs to NFC-check-in with it on a daily basis.
Or if the owner hasn't checked-in with it in say, two days, it needs to start emitting a loud noise so that it will be discovered.
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Or how about they just release an Android app which only includes the anti-stalking feature?
If someone doesn’t own any smartphone, they’re not likely to own something a criminal is going to bother to tag before stealing. Shitty cars do get stolen, I personally know a few people who have had their beaters stolen. Thing is, the whole tag-and-track thing is a bit sophisticated for the average crackhead car thief looking to steal a beater.
Re:This was always going to happen. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you are seriously underestimating the car thieves. I mean, how hard is it to slap an airtag onto a car and use a smartphone app to track it's whereabouts? In fact, Apple likely made this process easy because the whole point is to find the airtag.
Just because someone is a criminal doesn't mean they are stupid. It just means they are not concerned about the law or how their actions are hurting others.
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iPhones are pretty expensive to use as burner phones, and being signed into the “Find My” network seems like a real good way for a criminal to get caught (because the phone itself is an extremely accurate tracking device). I’m sure the more sophisticated thieves have ways of working around that, but the average crackhead is just gonna smash the window and hot-wire the car right then and there.
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If someone doesn’t own any smartphone, they’re not likely to own something
You know who else does not own smartphones? Children.
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There is an Android app, but
- You need to know it exists and install it.
- There is an EULA with onerous terms.
- It only detects Apple tags, and there are many other similar products.
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Thing is, the whole tag-and-track thing is a bit
sophisticated for the average crackhead car thief looking
to steal a beater.
The "average crackhead car thief" is working for
organized crime in a very sophisticated
"steal-chop-ship overseas" system. The mafia is not
interested in obtaining beaters, but more likely the $100,000+
cars that bring in the big bucks overseas.
In return, the thief will get enough drugs to last another
day.
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Or if the owner hasn't checked-in with it in say, two days, it needs to start emitting a loud noise so that it will be discovered.
Apparently it does exactly this - after three days.
https://www.macrumors.com/2021... [macrumors.com]
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Don't blame a device. (Score:2)
The problem is, thieves aren't that smart (Score:2)
You're looking at it from the perspective of a reasonable person making logical choices.
Calculating the risk, even. Reasonablee, logical people to balance the potential gain vs the potential penalty and make a wise choice. The problem is, thieves aren't reasonable, logical people making wise choices. They are people who make objectively bad decisions. Much like people who play the lottery regularly.
True, dismemberment would be a deterrent. And dismembering people for shoplifting would make US the bad guys.
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Poe's law [wikipedia.org] strikes again!
Sooo..... (Score:5, Interesting)
...Let me see if I've got this right:
Apple created a gadget called an AirTag, which is basically a Bluetooth beacon.
Then Apple pushed a system update that makes every iPhone notice these beacons and report them (and the location of the iPhone at the time) to a central database.
And the putative use case for this was, "Find my misplaced keys?"
Yeah-huh.
Do these beacons have a common OUI in the MAC address? In other words, can I write a quick Android app that sniffs to see if one is nearby, but reports it to ME rather than Apple? At least that way I'd have half a chance of finding one planted on my car without having to buy an iPhone.
Re:Sooo..... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sooo..... (Score:4, Insightful)
...Let me see if I've got this right:
Apple created a gadget called an AirTag, which is basically a Bluetooth beacon.
Then Apple pushed a system update that makes every iPhone notice these beacons and report them (and the location of the iPhone at the time) to a central database.
And the putative use case for this was, "Find my misplaced keys?"
Yeah-huh.
Do these beacons have a common OUI in the MAC address? In other words, can I write a quick Android app that sniffs to see if one is nearby, but reports it to ME rather than Apple? At least that way I'd have half a chance of finding one planted on my car without having to buy an iPhone.
More like Apple joined a gaggle of other vendors who already offered a similar product: https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com] The only difference begin that nobody raised a stink about abuse of those Bluetooth trackers for years and years. Furthermore, you can do the same thing with cheap GPS enabled burner phones and cheap tracking devices for years and years now and with better results. For years I've used an old iPhone and the 'Find My' apps as a tracking system in case my car gets stolen. Nobody has raised a stink about that being possible either, but I'm sure they will just as soon as some car thief uses a cheap 4th hand burner iPhone for this purpose and Slashdot finds out about it.
So (Score:2)
Doesn't that mean the thieves themselves can be caught more easily by checking whose airtag was used for tracking and also what IP was checking on it? Plus, they have to know that their target doesn't have an iPhone and advanced home security, which means you have to do some stalking which in turn increases your chance of being caught X-fold. Doesn't sound very genius to me.
There are far better tracking tools for thieves (Score:2)
This story is only getting traction because of anti-Apple sentiment, as in: "Apple is making these devices that bad guys are using to commit crimes." Stupid bad guys, perhaps.
Any car thief who planned to steal a high-end car would be a fool to use a device that has a very high probability of warning the driver that it's in the car. Does the thief want to gamble that someone driving an $100,000 automobile doesn't own an iPhone?
Plus the AirTag's tracking updates are only intermittent, and completely depende
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>You can buy one for less than $50, and get minute-by-minute position updates for several days. The owner of the car wouldn't have a clue it was there.
Though generally this would be a device with a registered SIM, assigned to a data plan, and with the phone company having logs pointing to your GIS server. This is fine for about as long as the cops don't get involved.
Even a cop can get a trace on a SIM, call up the phone provider, and get the logs. And whoever they get to do that is probably also capabl
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>You can buy one for less than $50, and get minute-by-minute position updates for several days. The owner of the car wouldn't have a clue it was there.
Though generally this would be a device with a registered SIM, assigned to a data plan, and with the phone company having logs pointing to your GIS server. This is fine for about as long as the cops don't get involved.
Even a cop can get a trace on a SIM, call up the phone provider, and get the logs. And whoever they get to do that is probably also capable of figuring out where your GIS server is and finding its owner - if tracing your data plan payment to the cellular provider somehow isn't enough.
What you really want is an encrypted burst transmission in an unlicensed band. If anybody notices, you'll be long done with the device before anyone traces it. Sure, the update frequency is probably going to suck, and you're going to have to be close enough to pick it up, but you'll get your position data without an obvious trail back to you.
Same basically applies to the Air Tag. You use the 'Find My' app to track the location of the damn thing. It all goes through Apple so if you have probable cause you can compel them to cooperate with your branch of law enforcement. Same goes for the umpteen different manufacturers of similar tracking tags. It's not as if this is a method of abuse that is unique to Apple Air Tags. Furthermore, you can probably get better tracking performance out of a pre-paid burner phone with a similar 'Find My' app as the
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There are a couple of other things to consider:
1) If you can tap the vehicle's electrical system, you can run your GPS tracker a LOT longer. It also takes longer to install than a self-contained magnetic box stuck to the bottom of the vehicle.
2) It's not particularly easy to do, but you can tap the vehicle's antenna for your own purposes. Checking bumpers and wheel wells isn't enough if you're looking for a tracker, you also need to look at the base of your antenna and see if somebody's added some extra w
The ultimate honey pot (Score:1)
The story fundamentally makes little sense.
High end cars are mostly owned by fairly wealthy people, who mostly have iPhones.
THAT means that if they drive off with an AirTag someone in the car will have the phone alert there is an AirTatg on them, they they did not own...
From there you can write your own story as to what a very rich person can do with an AirTag they know thieves will follow to wherever they decide to put it, and set up a very nice greeting for them.
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If I hide an Air Tag in my backpack and someone steals it, I don't want the the Air Tag to alert the thief that there is an Air Tag that doesn't belong to them following them. In that case the stolen item tracking would be worthless.
I also don't want the Air Tags of my fellow office workers alerting me because their key-chain tags are in constant contact with my iPhone while in the same office every day. I don't want my wife's Air Tags alerting me because we are constantly together.
For Air Tags to work, t
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Hopefully thieves will learn to use a free Bluetooth scanner to detect AirTags on stolen goods making them useless.
Apple has created a privacy nightmare.
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If I hide an Air Tag in my backpack and someone steals it, I don't want the the Air Tag to alert the thief that there is an Air Tag that doesn't belong to them following them
Too bad because that is what it does.
Nevertheless it still has ben working really well recovering stolen items. Not every thief, in fact I would wager most thieves do not have an iPhone.
Even if they know there is some benefit in that they may ditch the pack, or take time to look for the tag while you are on the way to where the stolen
Wrong assumption (Score:2)
Question is, why bother with the rather flimsy apple tracking? A pet tracker (which can be zip tied) is 40$. It is a reality. Everybody has access to what was solely within the reach of law enforcement and corporate security.
Anti-stalking is not just for airtags (Score:2)
I moved to a new location. On the second evening at my new place, I got alert about unknown airpods following me.
My phone put its location every now and then to my old apartment. I guess it was due to the wifi hotspot(s) it detected. My router has 3 hotspots. Then on other times the phone put its location to where it actually was (GPS? other means?). So even though it was actually on my table, the phone thought it was travelling between my old location and new location every now and then. While doing this,