In a bizarre turn of events, a Vancouver woman, Becca Hislop, used an Apple AirTag to trace what she believed to be her stolen vehicle, only to uncover a different story in the Okanagan.
Hislop’s ordeal began on a Sunday morning near Science World in Vancouver. While she was with her boyfriend, her car was stolen. However, she had an edge – an active Apple AirTag placed inside her vehicle. The device showed her car’s movements through Vancouver, even indicating when it was stuck in downtown traffic.
Determined to retrieve her car, Hislop followed the tracker’s signal, which led her to a winery in Kelowna the following day. But upon arrival, she was in for a surprise. The AirTag had been transferred to an Evo Car Share vehicle, reports Global News. Looks like some car thieves are now outsmarting Apple’s trackers.
“This (person) found the AirTag, took it out of the car and had the foresight to put it into a car that would be moving randomly and effectively sent us all on a wild goose chase, which is what we did,” said Hislop.
She expressed her frustration, adding, “I want this person to get their karma because we work hard for our things and it’s not fair that some people think they can cheat and just take.”
After reporting the theft to the Vancouver police, they were able to locate her car a few days later on East Hastings Street, thankfully with minimal damage. East Hastings is home to Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside.
It’s a 4 hour and 20 minute drive from Vancouver to Kelowna. You have to be pretty determined to make that drive to track down your car. Car thieves really suck. Apple does have protections that will notify people if an “unknown” AirTag is tracking them. That’s probably what led these thieves to start searching for the AirTag then tossing it into another car.
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+1 for the car jackers. Clever to look around for tracking devices.
The car owner would be advised to improve their hiding spot next time!
Remove the AirTag speaker first.
Never ever credit thieves
Never ever credit thieves
The ‘spot’ doesn’t matter. Apple notifies you via your phone if an ‘unknown’ airtag is nearby. This is one problem with the tech which is meant for convenience of returning lost items to their owners but it also causes problems too.
Problem with the tech? It’s an explicitly programmed feature of the software. It has nothing to do with the tech.
Thank you for correcting me. 🙄
Airtags are great for lost things, but not so good for stolen things. Also great for seeing where your cat goes all day.
They didn’t outsmart the AirTag at all. They outsmarted the woman.