AirTag Hidden in Stuffed Animal Nabs Bar Thief

[MacRumors]

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a thief was hitting a string of bars and restaurants, breaking into safes and stealing cash. One of the bars impacted was the Sneaky Beagle, and the location was burgled several times, leading the staff to set up a sting that involved an AirTag.

As outlined by WMBF News, staff at the Sneaky Beagle opened up a stuffed animal, stuck an AirTag inside, and put the AirTag-and-animal combo into a decoy safe.

The thief, who turned out to be a 52-year-old man, took the bait and stole the safe. Police officers were able to track the AirTag to the thief's home, and he was able to be connected to multiple burglaries in the area. He was arrested and charged with nine counts of second-degree burglary.

Article Link: AirTag Hidden in Stuffed Animal Nabs Bar Thief

 

[mectojic]

Brilliant! They can be used to fight crime more than aid crime.

 

[Infinite Vortex]

The guy broke into locations, picked up and stole their property, took it home and enjoy himself with it. How is that not a clear case of intent and repeat offending such that it isn't first-degree burglary?!

 

[Paddle1]

Sounds like the Sneaky Beagle live up to their name.

 

[surfzen21]

The guy broke into locations, picked up and stole their property, took it home and enjoy himself with it. How is that not a clear case of intent and repeat offending such that it isn't first-degree burglary?!

Because first-degree burglary in SC requires violence and a home.

 

[kkee]

Did he use Android phone? Good news, there is an update coming.

 

[Think|Different]

Gooooood job. $19 can allow anyone to do this and also just plain track and protect. Buy one, disconnect speaker in 20 seconds, and plant one in your car, too — foolish not to.

 

[macsplusmacs]

Gooooood job. $19 can allow anyone to do this and also just plain track and protect. Buy one, disconnect speaker in 20 seconds, and plant one in your car, too — foolish not to.

I disconnected the speaker on two of them, my mom said they would scare the cats (she uses them to track her cats when they hide too well)

But yah, took like 20 seconds to remove the speaker.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Wow that’s very interesting ! This little thing can now help catch thieves and stop crimes.. well that’s what I call technology 😎

 

[Quu]

The important part of the story, they went to the police and didn't go to the person's home themselves in an attempt to retrieve stolen property. As opposed to what Apple showed in their recent ad.

Stay safe everyone!

 

[BGPL]

Must not have got the "stalking" notification yet. The stuffed animal is smart, it dulls the AirTag's chime that tells everyone its there.

 

[Mr. Dee]

52 year old and thats all you can show for all those years, stealing? Worthless!

 

[TinyMito]

Awesome story with AirTag lol. Same with the SOS feature but I only have the iphone 12.

 

[rpmurray]

It's sad when you can't even count your ill-gotten gains without the police infringing on your right to privacy.

 

[sdf]

To quote Nicolas Cage: “Put the bunny back in the box.”

 

[antiprotest]

If they were putting the AirTag in the safe, why did they need to put it in a stuffed animal? (So the thief would keep it if he got the safe open?)

And why didn't the thief's phone warned him about the AirTag? Not iPhone user? I hear the alert is coming to android as a native feature too.

 

[walnuts]

Aren't there actual trackers that are better at this task than AirTags?

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Stuffed animals save the day! 🧸

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Sweet! So glad I have an iTag!

 

[kkee]

Aren't there actual trackers that are better at this task than AirTags?

Apple will say 'ours work better and cheaper.'

For once, I agree with them. Got mine 4 pack for $12 each.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

This is neat but eventually will get figured out by the more "aware" thieves. Still, means plenty of morons will get nabbed by this for years to come.

 

[boswald]

Since it works well for stuffed animals, I may as well put one on my real dog.

 

[ddhhddhh2]

A lot of folks don't think theft is such a big deal, but I'm tellin' ya, stealing is the lowest of the low, the dirtiest, even downright damnable crime! You know the old saying - if you can't steal it, rob it; if you can't rob it, kill for it - That's what I'm talkin' about. If you wanna permanently fix the theft problem, it's actually simple. Just send everyone who steals to the electric chair. What's that? Too many people? Well, what's the issue - let 'em line up.

 

[HylianKnight]

Remember, just because you put an AirTag on your valuables does not mean the Police will be willing or able to do anything to get your valuables back should they be stolen.

 

[Totorotarrot]

If they were putting the AirTag in the safe, why did they need to put it in a stuffed animal? (So the thief would keep it if he got the safe open?)

And why didn't the thief's phone warned him about the AirTag? Not iPhone user? I hear the alert is coming to android as a native feature too.

1. When tag is in the safe it was not detectable due to faraday cage.
2. When tag was out of the safe it was stationary so does not trigger alert.
3. Stuffed animal so the tag would be out of the safe yet not quickly discovered. (If it’s in cage it wouldn’t be detected. If it’s out of cage it would be destroyed. Stuffed animal would endure the tag is moved outside of the faraday cage and able to transmit the data.
4. No sound would emit if you are not activating the sound function