Stories of Apple AirTags being misused to track cars or stalk women continue to surface online

"Someone attached an Apple AirTag to the underside of my front wheel well while I was at a bar," Baltimore-area Twitter user @Sega__JEANAsis wrote over the weekend in a tweet that was widely forwarded

The Twitter user, who also uses the name Jaz W online, said the incident happened early Saturday morning (December 18) and was "kind of scary" She said that as she was driving away from the bar, an alert began to appear on her iPhone that an air tag had been found traveling with her

"I checked my wallet, trench coat pockets, purse, everything, and found nothing" @Sega__JEANAsis wrote

"I had someone close to me check my car while I slept and found it wedged in the underside of the passenger wheel well"

"No matter how *safe* a woman tries to be, it bothers me," she added"

"It doesn't matter if someone really wants to hurt you"

It is not clear whether the person who attached the AirTag to @Sega__JEANAsis's car intended to follow her or her vehicle There have been recent reports of car thieves in Toronto, Detroit, and Houston using AirTag to follow prospective vehicles from public places to vulnerable locations for theft

@Sega__JEANAsis said, "They may have targeted my car

"I'd like to think this is real, not God only knows what they're physically targeting me," she added

These incidents are not the only ones reported in recent months According to television station KAIT-TV, a Jonesboro, Arkansas, woman who wishes to remain anonymous found an air tag on the trunk of her car after shopping for a Christmas tree in November

California resident @_ashleyscarlett (identified by InTheKnow as Ashley Estrada) took to TikTok on September 13, shortly after she drove from her home in the Inland Empire to Los Angeles, where she found a car license plate She stated that she found an AirTag wedged behind the license plate of her car shortly after she drove from her home in the Inland Empire to Los Angeles

In a follow-up video, Estrada mentions that her car is a Dodge, and her clip appears to show the same model Dodge Charger that car thieves in the Detroit area are looking for

Estrada said that when she reported the incident to police, they dismissed it as "non-life-threatening" Estrada stated that she intends to contact Apple directly

Another TikTok user, @kimbreezeh, said in a video posted on September 20 that when she told police that there appeared to be a rogue AirTag hidden in her car, she was told they could not accept the damage report because nothing illegal had happened

"I'm supposed to call them if someone shows up," she said in the video 'That's when they can help me'

TikTok user @murasakisweetpotatoes had better luck at the local police station, according to a video posted June 11 She, too, found an AirTag under the license plate of the car she was driving, wrote down the serial number, and called the police

Someone might get an unwelcome call from the police because Apple could theoretically link that serial number to the owner of the device

Again, most of these incidents can be interpreted as setups for car theft as well as possible stalkers TikTokユーザーの@angeledge95は, on November 21, a rogue AirTag from Austin, Texas posted a video of her being followed on a flight to Boston

She also consulted local police, who found the AirTag affixed to the inside of her checked bag on the plane, @angeledge95 said in a follow-up video

It is not clear what happened in the case that the police took seriously We have asked Apple how many cases of possible stalking by AirTag have been received and will update this article as soon as we receive a response

If you see AirTag "found traveling with you" on your iPhone, take the warning seriously If you are driving, check the exterior of your vehicle for places where AirTag might be hiding, such as under bumpers, inside wheel wells, behind license plates, and inside gas cap doors and trailer hitch attachments

If you are not driving, check your coat pocket or the bag you are carrying AirTags are supposed to start beeping after 8-24 hours away from a paired iPhone, but if the AirTag is turned off in a moving vehicle or on clothing, the beeping may not be heard

Many are concerned that Android users will not receive such notifications Apple released an Android app last week called Device Tracker that detects rogue AirTags, but the drawback is that the scan must be initiated manually If you are truly concerned about stalking, you may have to run these scans several times a day

A better option might be an Android app called AirGuard, developed by researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany It automatically scans AirTags and other Apple Find My devices that appear to be traveling with you

We cannot vouch for the legitimacy of the AirGuard app, and it is not possible when you install it to disable accurate GPS location, access to Bluetooth, full network access, battery optimization, and to prevent your Android device from asks for a number of permissions, including the ability to prevent it from sleeping

However, AirGuard's source code is available on GitHub for anyone to review, and the same team of researchers has developed other AirTag-related tools over the past several months

If you find a rogue AirTag on your clothes, belongings, or in your car, do not throw the AirTag away or destroy it; press down on the front of the AirTag and twist counterclockwise to open the unit; note the AirTag's serial number and report it to your local police department and Apple Inc