What you need to know
- Police in Charlotte have caught a serial thief using an AirTag.
- Javiere Green was busted after stealing a backpack with an AirTag attached.
- He was tracked to southeast Charlotte and arrested.
Police in Charlotte have busted a serial thief who made the error of stealing a backpack with an AirTag attached.
WRAL.com reports:
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said tracking technology from Apple helped investigators track down a serial thief.The thief stole a backpack that had an Apple Airtag attached to it. Investigators tracked the thief to southeast Charlotte and attempted to arrested Javiere Green.When police arrived at the home where the tracking device said Green was, police said Green jumped into a car and sped off, but he still had the backpack with him. Investigators followed the trail to Fernwood Drive in southeast Charlotte and arrested Javiere Green.
The thief had five previous arrests for offenses including stealing, and now faces a hefty 23 criminal charges including breaking and entering a motor vehicle, grand larceny, and possessing a stolen firearm.
Apple's AirTags rely on the Find-My network generated by millions of best iPhones users to track their location accurately. While many users have found great benefit in recovering lost or stolen goods as a result of the product, there have also been serious concerns raised about privacy, in particular with regard to situations involving domestic abuse and stalking in relationships.
Last month police in Portland were able to track down and apprehend an armed robber in almost identical circumstances after the culprit stole a backpack that had an AirTag attached to it.
Apple rolled out a big update to its AirTags earlier this year, including measures in iOS 15 that should make unwanted trackers much easier to find if a user is alerted to their presence. Apple said in February:
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. Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag.
You can do it
The AirTag runs on an ordinary user-replaceable CR2032 battery.
