And what about all of the other trackers that are undetectable by an iPhone.
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Criminals in Montreal Using AirTags to Steal Vehicles
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Because it’s easier/safer to steal a car that’s parked on a driveway or on the street at night than in a public space in the middle of the day, which is probably when the tag was placed.
Back in the day they also didn’t worry much about things like wrongful convictions.
Causing the very problem they purport to prevent. Only criminals will be able to keep track of their (and others') belongings.Sounds like Canada will be banning AirTags along with the Flipper Zero.
They want to know where the owner lives. Then they use car key boosters to silently unlock and drive away the car from the driveway. They need to be not too far from the car keys to do this.
No, our police are telling people to leave the keyfobs by the front door, so when they break in to steal the keys they are right there for them.Sounds like Canada will be banning AirTags along with the Flipper Zero
I am not making this up.
There are a lot of AirTag-esque GPS trackers in the market right now and most of them aren't a part of the Find My network and thus wouldn't alert you if that tracker is close to your smartphone but doesn't belong to you. At least not through the Find My app.
The whole market of GPS trackers is kinda sketchy and seems completely unregulated.
But what do I know.
Yes, the expensive ones that loudly let folks know they’re there, need devices in their vicinity that detect them to report their position. The far cheaper ones any would-be thief can buy from Amazon do not. And, since the story being reported is “people found AirTags on their vehicles” and not that actual cars were stolen, that’s likely because thieves aren’t using AirTags anywhere near as often as folks would like to think.
They wouldn’t use Tile or AirTags. There are far more accurate trackers criminals can buy on Amazon and elsewhere that have a zero% ability to alert a victim that they’re being tracked.
Saw that.
Sure sign of societal surrender.
It’s only going to get much worse.
Leave car keys by the front door to avoid home invasion, Toronto police officer says | Globalnews.ca
The Toronto Police Service issued a statement Wednesday confirming that an officer made the remarks at a recent community meeting.
globalnews.ca
Ok.. the questions is Why? Were they luxury cars? If the purpose was to follow the car home, isn't it easy to find the address by searching with registration plate? I think it should be possible for the law and enforcement to trace such AirTags back to their owners. Because it was AirTag, detecting was easy. How about Samsung tags or Tile?
But mostly useless. It takes a long time (days or weeks) for any alert to appear that you’re being tracked IF you have a recent device AND it’s running a recent version of iOS AND you have all the various setting enabled. So basically, the feature to detect a tag following you is mostly useless.
Yup. I don't want this to dissent into discussions of politics, but it's relevant to this story. Its a direct result of the current government policies over the past 8 years. Criminals being released with no bail or low bail where they should be remanded, and the increased involvement of youth in these carjackings and car thefts because they get a slap on the wrist when caught, their identities protected by law.
It's not always luxury cars, its average vehicles like Honda CRV's, Ford F-150's, Toyota Highlanders.
Always the newer models of course.
This is not anything new unfortunately, there has been an outbreak of car thefts in Canada all over. 116% increase since 2019. In Toronto area where im from, in 2023 there was 12,000 cars stolen just in my city alone. 1 car stolen every 40 mins for a year! In the burbs just outside of Toronto, last year had the highest car theft per capita in all of Canada. I have had numerous neighbours on my street cars’ stolen in the past year. The thieves go shopping for cars in mall parking lots and whatever car they like, they will place a couple AirTags underneath or in the wheel well. Then at night, go to where the car is parked in hopes its outside on the street or a driveway. They will use a cheap repeater off Amazon to steal the Key FOB signal thats in your house without even breaking in. And drive away easily. They will even park the car for a couple nights in a random place to make sure there is no owner tracker system installed. The AirTag does make this easier, but this is on the car manufacturers in my opinion. Terrible security system. Kia/Hyundai are apparently the worst. People install clubs on their steering wheels, which also do nothing as these thieves just cut the steering wheel in half. The only effective tactic seems to be installing an engine immobilizer but that’s a huge hassle and costs thousands to install. And when you are leasing a car, you don’t want to spend that money. Also, Police are asking the public to not have their keys hanging near the front door and better yet, keep it in bedroom in a Faraday Box. But that’s not even 100% effective. The only cars that seem to be immune to the thefts is EV’s. Especially Tesla’s. Tesla’s don’t have the same wireless system susceptible to the repeaters and are connected to the cloud/app so stealing it would be a lot more difficult. But in general, these cars get shipped to Africa/Middle East and they don’t have the infrastructure to charge them there either.
AirTags are the popular way but they have expanded their tactics. To locate good/specific cars, they now have people on the inside of the DMV and car dealerships, giving them addresses of owners that bought and registered new cars by brand/model. So they have even got around the AirTag method. Its really insane. I think there is also some advanced VIN faking tech as well to fool the shipping ports combined with the shipping ports just not having the resources to check all containers going out or they might even be on the take as well. Who knows. The cops have busted several rings with thousands of cars recovered that were waiting to be put on containers but that’s a drop in the bucket. And our judicial system sucks as it’s a catch and release system here for these crimes. Cops are super frustrated with the court system, as these are repeat offenders.
AirTags are the popular way but they have expanded their tactics. To locate good/specific cars, they now have people on the inside of the DMV and car dealerships, giving them addresses of owners that bought and registered new cars by brand/model. So they have even got around the AirTag method. Its really insane. I think there is also some advanced VIN faking tech as well to fool the shipping ports combined with the shipping ports just not having the resources to check all containers going out or they might even be on the take as well. Who knows. The cops have busted several rings with thousands of cars recovered that were waiting to be put on containers but that’s a drop in the bucket. And our judicial system sucks as it’s a catch and release system here for these crimes. Cops are super frustrated with the court system, as these are repeat offenders.
Cellular data.
Inaccurate. I have been notified within hours if I happen to be traveling with someone who has their own Airtag
Montreal is Canada's gateway to car theft. The Montreal port is a protected area to pass the stolen cars abroad. If authorities want they can stop, but I think someone at the top is mobilizing this new job market. One day people will switch from 9-5 jobs to professional carjacking. In a few hours who can earn 50K? Not even CEOs earn that much.![]()
Thieves in Montreal, Canada have been using Apple's AirTags to facilitate vehicle theft, according to a report from Vermont news sites WCAX and NBC5 (via 9to5Mac). Police officers in Burlington, Vermont have issued a warning about AirTags for drivers who recently visited Canada.
![airtag-new-orange.jpg]()
Two Burlington residents found Apple AirTags in their vehicles after returning from trips to Montreal, and these are not the first reports that officers have encountered. One man, Ethan Yang, said he was coming from Montreal after visiting family, and he was alerted that there was an AirTag traveling with him. He was able to use his phone to make the AirTag beep, and he was able to locate the device, which had been placed in the front grille of the vehicle.
Ryan McLiverty, a cyber analyst at the Vermont Intelligence Center, said that while these incidents have been happening for some time, there has been a new spike in activity. Criminals in Montreal are using AirTags to track cars, steal them, and then sell them abroad. There's also a possibility that the AirTags are being used to tag cars as part of an effort to move drugs across the border.
Travelers who are concerned about being tracked via an AirTag should know that there are built-in safety features. An AirTag will send an alert if it is not within distance of the person that owns it, and this alert will show up on iPhones. Android phones are also able to detect unknown Bluetooth trackers, including AirTags, plus Apple has a Tracker Detect app that scans for them.
Article Link: Criminals in Montreal Using AirTags to Steal Vehicles
Why not just go to a secluded area at 4 am then? There's a piece that's missing.
Sure, but the airtag tells you which suburban garage / driveway the car’s parked in overnight which you targeted during the day.
Research car remote relay attacks to understand why that’s important
The AirTag is to mark the car they want as they do have a list of specific models that bring in the most cash. And it's easiest to look for the cars in a shopping mall parking lot which is basically a buffet for them. And they usually try to see what type of owner drives away by lurking close by. I'm guessing they have an ideal profile of people to steal from for various reasons (ie someone older whom won't be staying up late etc..). Then they will be able to find that car later at night and do their fob signal stealing process - a couple mins later, they just open the door and drive away. The crucial part is the fob stealing signal which is easiest at night, when they can scan through the front doors/windows with their antenna's without ever breaking into the home or breaking any car windows.