AirTags, small electronic tracking devices made by Apple Inc., have increasingly been used for crimes such as theft and stalking.
In one case, a man who purchased a used luxury vehicle had it stolen as thieves had attached a tracking device to it. In another instance, a man was arrested for using an AirTag to stalk a former partner.
AirTags were released in 2021 and marketed as gadgets to help users keep track of their possessions.
They are about the size of a 500-yen coin and use wireless Bluetooth communication to emit location data. Once the user has completed the initial registration, they can find their AirTag’s current location on a map in their smartphone.
However, the signal emitted by the air tag is detected by nearby iPhones, including those of other people.
AirTags can be purchased for around 5,000 yen and their batteries last for at least a year.
A man shared his experience of having his newly purchased luxury car stolen after robbers planted an AirTag in the vehicle to track it.
CAR HEIST PLANNED IN ADVANCE
A 54-year-old company executive in Fukuoka was ecstatic when he noticed a used car listed for sale online about three years ago. He had long desired the luxury car, Toyota’s Lexus LX, and there it was—being sold at an affordable price.
After communicating directly with the seller through email, he decided to purchase the car.
He then met the seller at a delivery location in Saitama Prefecture, handed over about 5.2 million yen ($35,000) in cash and took the car home.
About two weeks later, he received a call from the repair shop where he had left his car for maintenance.
“I’m sorry, but don’t be surprised. Your car has been stolen,” he was told.
The car was reportedly taken from a sheet metal factory in the next town.
“How could that happen?” the man asked, upset and confused.
As it turns out, the scheme had been in motion from the moment he bought the Lexus.
The group of robbers had attached an AirTag to the car before it was sold, tracked its location and simply waited for an opportunity to steal it using a spare key.
Two days after the man bought the car, a member of the group had been searching for the Lexus within Fukuoka Prefecture using the location information.
“It’s scary that people can easily find out where you are without you even knowing an AirTag has been installed,” the company executive said.
Following the theft, Fukuoka prefectural police arrested three members of the group.
However, whether the man who sold the car was a member of the group is still unknown.
According to the district court ruling, one of the robbers, a 33-year-old former yakuza member, was found guilty.
PERFECT FOR STALKING
The misuse of location tracking devices is nothing new.
According to the National Police Agency, there were 486 consultations nationwide in 2023 about stalking cases thought to involve the malicious use of location information devices. This is about a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
While there are no nationwide statistics specifically on AirTags, cases of their misuse have been confirmed.
In June 2023, Fukuoka prefectural police arrested a man in his 50s on suspicion of violating the anti-stalking law for attaching an AirTag to a former partner’s car to track her location, follow her and lie in wait for the victim.
COUNTERMEASURES
Apple has taken some measures to help people detect if an AirTag has been planted on them without their knowledge.
In December 2021, Apple released an app that can issue warnings on smartphones, including non-iPhones, if an AirTag is nearby and will cause it to emit a sound.
However, even with these functions, “it usually takes more than eight hours for the warning to be issued,” said Akiko Takahashi, an internet technology journalist and visiting professor at Seikei University.
If people set a shorter warning period, they may be bombarded by notifications set off by the AirTags of people nearby.
Takahashi points out that manufacturers should place more importance on safety, considering the succession of misuse cases.
How does Apple view the fact that AirTags are being used for criminal purposes? An official of Apple Japan Inc. shared the URL of the website, which provides their comment:
“AirTag was designed to help people locate their personal belongings, not to track people or another person’s property, and we condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products.”
(This article was written by Hideoki Kozuki and Yuta Torio.)
