This connection to theft and AirTags is a bit premature / isolated cases. If the cars are "stolen from the driveway" people could easily walk down a street see a nice car in the drive way and steal it! no AirTag required.
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Apple AirTag Linked to Increasing Number of Car Thefts, Canadian Police Report
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The article states is a hit or miss.
Granted they say it’s only five but they must have used previous trackers in the past and apple just released theirs it was a matter of time
In other news today,
non-tech savvy Car Thieves, have to use the age-old but antiquated method, of actually having to surreptitiously follow that Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., back to the owners driveway.
The police have encouraged these car owners to stop pretending they look so cool and instead, be extra vigilant watching the rear view mirror, for that one car on the crowded highway, that has been tailing you since you left the art auction.
Police also do not blame any corporation or technology, for these thefts. They place 100% of the blame on these victims for being too egocentric and wealthy
...better known in Police Force terminology, as a "Natural Born Target"
non-tech savvy Car Thieves, have to use the age-old but antiquated method, of actually having to surreptitiously follow that Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., back to the owners driveway.
The police have encouraged these car owners to stop pretending they look so cool and instead, be extra vigilant watching the rear view mirror, for that one car on the crowded highway, that has been tailing you since you left the art auction.
Police also do not blame any corporation or technology, for these thefts. They place 100% of the blame on these victims for being too egocentric and wealthy
...better known in Police Force terminology, as a "Natural Born Target"
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
This usage seems to revolve around only using them to get a home address. If one starts beeping in 48 hours, the car owner may find it then but the thieves will already have the address. Maybe the homeowner is on a bit of extra alert for a while if they know about this kind of story. However, they eventually resume normal life. Meanwhile, the thieves still have the home address and can do their deed at ANY time.
In some ways this is like personal info database thefts. Immediately after the theft, nothing typically happens. But then sooner or later something may happen. When announced, everyone with potentially compromised information may be on a bit of added alert. But then- when nothing happens for a long enough period of time- we resume normal life.
A seemingly big issue with this approach is that the super car to be stolen by these means probably has a garage in which it is regularly parked at night... probably inside a gated community... probably a secure gated community... possibly within localized secure grounds too. A super car probably has a pretty impressive anti-theft device(s) too. So spending $29 to identify the address doesn't seem to offer easy pickens for the thieves. It would seem it would be much easier to steal it from wherever they are able to access it out in public. Instead of inserting a tracking tag, just get on with the theft there.
The thieves could also save themselves the $29 by simply targeting richer neighborhoods. Drive through those in the late evening (if they can get into them), notice which cars they want obviously parked out in the driveway instead of already in the garage, come back and get them whenever they like. I think that approach has been used for up to all of the time that cars have existed.
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I made my dog, small son, and wife all swallow airtags so I would always know where they are located. I also have airtags in my backpack, several glued to the underside of my car, and embedded into my own arm just so my wife can find my body and claim life insurance in case my ex-wife finds me.
Apple has an absolute gem on their hands with this release. Complete peace of mind at such little cost.
Apple has an absolute gem on their hands with this release. Complete peace of mind at such little cost.
Why not just drive down the road and pick a random driveway? Want a fancier car? Drive down a wealthier road. This just seems like theft with extra steps
And here I am driving a manual transmission. Don't even have to lock my car at night in the US. LMAO.
"While only five thefts have been directly linked to AirTags so far".....ummm 5 out of over 2000 doesn't strike me as a crime wave
I literally do no believe this is happening. We have seen real-world uses of AirTags and they do not perform like this. This is more of York police making something up, just because AirTags were found in the vehicles.
I’m confused how this makes it any easier to steal a car. So the thieves know where an expensive car is parked in the evening. So what?
Thieves can already just choose any wealthy neighborhood that is packed with Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Tesla, etc. and drive directly there. What does the Airtag accomplish for them?
Thieves can already just choose any wealthy neighborhood that is packed with Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Tesla, etc. and drive directly there. What does the Airtag accomplish for them?
How many cars were stolen by just watching where the guy parks and waiting?
I would have guessed AirTags could also be the solution to your car being stolen. Very soon, we'll see car manufacturers selling cars with embedded tracking features, that can hardly be disabled, so car owners can always know where their cars are.
To be fair MR, isn't doing any speculating here. They're reporting on something that a rather large police department has said is cause for concern.
Why didn't the thieves use Tile before? It's easier for iPhone users to know that there are AirTags tracking them than to discover Tile tags tracking them. Or perhaps thieves have been using Tile all this time, only that they were not discovered?
It's a lot easier to survey the parking lot at a sporting event or in the theatre district of Toronto and slip a $30 tracker onto a car. These sorts of cars are stolen on commission and shipped out of the country. They're looking for specific vehicles.
Then they can cruise by where the AirTag is and see what the situation is. Perhaps wait till it's parked in a less risky spot to be taken.
These guys aren't stealing random cars off driveways.
The solution is to have Apple devices littered everywhere. AppleTV, HomePod, iPad, etc.
CarPlay doesn’t work well with Android. You would use Android Auto instead.
It’s the most useless thing ever simply because the user cannot customize the behaviour of the device.
Why is it their problem, that thieves use tracking devices. If not for the AirTags, they would just buy something else for tracking.