Apple’s Bluetooth-enabled AirTag devices are typically used to track and locate mundane things such as house keys, but creeps have seemingly begun using them for another purpose.
Brooks Nader, a swimsuit model who’s been featured on the pages of Sports Illustrated magazine, alleges that someone used an Apple AirTag to stalk and follow her around New York City this week. Someone slipped the device into her coat pocket and she didn’t realize it until hours later, when she was walking home alone, the 25-year-old claims.
“I was at a restaurant/bar in Tribeca waiting on someone alone and had my coat on the chair behind me,” Nader said in an Instagram story video. “Then I went to meet some girlfriends at a bar nearby. I didn’t get any notifications. Then I went to the next spot, no notifications. Then, stupidly, I was walking home alone because I live in the neighborhood. Around 11:30 p.m., I was already on my walk home when I got the notifications that said someone is tracking you and has been for a while. So I freaked out. And then, of course, my phone died. So, my man was freaking out.”
“It turns out it was an Air Tag, a tiny little white circular thing that Apple makes, and it’s used for horrible, horrible things,” she concluded. “I had no idea that these existed until it happened to me.”
Apple’s AirTag devices cost $29 each, but packs of four are also available for $99. An iPhone will send out an alert if it detects someone else’s AirTag in close proximity, according to the privacy section of the product page.
Source: Sports Illustrated