California Woman Mails AirTag to Herself, Thwarting Mail Thieves
Toggle Dark Mode
A California woman who grew tired of being repeatedly victimized by mail thieves helped police catch a pair of mail pirates by mailing herself a package containing an Apple AirTag. (Via Mactrast)
The New York Post first reported that the unidentified woman grew tired of repeatedly having her mail stolen and decided to mail an Apple AirTag to her own address. As she expected, thieves stole the package and the woman contacted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. She notified them that the package had been stolen, that she had placed an AirTag in the package, and was tracking the device.
Police were able to track the alleged thieves to their lair, arresting Donald Ashton Terry and Virginia Francesca Lara of Santa Maria. In addition to the victim’s AirTag-laden package, stolen items believed to belong to over a dozen other victims were also discovered and taken into evidence.
The (allegedly) thieving duo have now been charged with possession of checks with intent to commit credit card theft, fraud, and identity theft.
Lara is being held on $50,000 bail, while Terry, who also had outstanding warrants for burglary and multiple thefts in Riverside County, is being held in lieu of $460,000 bond.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office commended the fast-thinking theft victim for being proactive, while also playing it safe by contacting law enforcement instead of trying to apprehend the suspects on her own.
“The Sheriff’s Office would like to commend the victim for her proactive solution,” said the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in a statement to the press, “while highlighting that she also exercised appropriate caution by contacting law enforcement to safely and successfully apprehend the suspects.”
Apple’s AirTags first hit store shelves in 2021 and have since helped users track several stolen and lost items.
In May 2022, an Australian man was able to recover AUD 10,000 (~$7,000) worth of stolen camera and computer gear. Graham Tait of Sydney, Australia, discovered the thousands of dollars in equipment stolen from his car trunk while parked at a hotel in South Australia.
Luckily, Tait had hidden an AirTag in the equipment bag, and was able to track the stolen equipment, contacting authorities, who arrested the thieves after tracking them to their location.
In April 2023, a Toronto, Canada man recovered his stolen Range Rover with the help of three hidden AirTags. The man had placed one in the glove box, which was intended to act as a decoy. If the thieves found it and tossed it, they would think they were scott-free. However, he had also hidden an AirTag behind the back seats, as well as one in the trunk in the spare tire.
While thieves did find the tracker in the glove compartment, they missed finding the other two AirTags. The man was able to track his Range Rover, called the police, and met them at the location indicated in the Find My app. When he hit the panic button on his key fob, the Range Rover found there began sounding an alarm.
Unfortunately, AirTags have also been used for illegal purposes, such as stalking.
In July 2024, an alleged human smuggler used seven AirTag trackers to stalk his ex-wife’s vehicle. Ibodullo Muhiddinov Numanovich, a Tajikistan citizen living in the United States, is said to have smuggled his ex-wife into the country. Numanovich then used several AirTags to keep track of her location.
Happily, the man’s stalking ways led to his being tossed in jail. While the ex-wife had discovered the first AirTag tracker on her own, FBI investigators in search of Numanovich located six more secreted on and in the vehicle. The FBI was then able to nab Numanovich when he returned to place still more tags on the vehicle. Because you can never hide too many AirTags, right?
