How Apple AirTags Are Used to Stalk and Track People

TL;DR

An AirTag hidden in your belongings can trigger a phone alert reading "AirTag found moving with you," as happened to two women who discovered stalkers had slipped the trackers into a shopping bag and a car seat. You can make an unknown AirTag beep to locate it, remove its battery to disable it, and request a police report number, though tracing the owner through Apple is a lengthy legal process.

Transcript

This happened to me back in late November of 2024 when I was 18. I was at the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo just doing some early Christmas shopping for my family. I like to get my Christmas shopping over with. I also like going to the mall during Christmas time because of the decorations and general vibe. Something about shopping when that Chris... Read More

Key Insights

• The "AirTag found moving with you" notification is the first warning victims receive; in one story it appeared as the woman neared home, and in another it showed the tag had been traveling with her for over an hour.
• Stalkers hide AirTags in easily overlooked places. One man dropped his into a Sephora shopping bag at the mall, and another was wedged in the crack where a car's back seat meets the seatback, invisible during multiple searches.
• An unknown AirTag can be made to play a sound through the phone. Ashley used this feature and heard beeping coming from one of her shopping bags, letting her physically find the device.
• Disabling a found AirTag means removing its battery. Claire took the battery out rather than destroying it, preserving it as potential evidence while stopping it from actively broadcasting her location.
• Reporting an AirTag stalking case is not straightforward. The responding officer was unfamiliar with the process but issued a police report number and suggested contacting Apple to trace the owner.
• Tracing an AirTag's owner through Apple is a heavy legal process. Ashley tried the day after her incident and found it far more involved than expected, eventually losing interest when nothing else happened.
• A stalker only needs to confirm where you live. Even after Ashley threw the AirTag out her car window, the man arrived at her house, proving he had already followed the signal to her location.
• Victims describe lasting psychological harm. Claire says the experience "changed me for the worse" and that she no longer feels like the same person, showing the trauma extends well beyond the physical threat.

Questions & Answers

Q: What does the 'AirTag found moving with you' notification mean?

It is an alert from the phone indicating an AirTag that is not yours has been traveling along with you, suggesting someone may be tracking your movements. In the first story it popped up as Ashley approached her home, and in the second it told Claire the AirTag had been moving with her for over an hour, meaning it was in her car the entire commute or in the parking lot beforehand. It is typically the first sign a victim gets that they are being followed.

Q: How can you find a hidden AirTag that is tracking you?

You can make the AirTag play a sound and listen for it. Ashley figured out how to make the tag beep and, partially expecting it to come from outside the car, instead heard the beeping from one of her shopping bags and dug it out. Physical searching also works: Claire ran her hand along the crack where her back seat meets the seatback and felt something solid, which turned out to be the AirTag lodged there after earlier searches of the seats, glove compartment, and trunk found nothing.

Q: What should you do if you find an AirTag someone planted on you?

Options shown in the video include disabling and reporting it. Claire took the battery out rather than destroying the device because she did not want it active but wanted to preserve it as possible evidence. Ashley threw hers out the car window. For reporting, the responding officer gave Ashley a police report number and suggested contacting Apple to begin tracing the owner, though she found that process much more legally involved than expected and eventually gave up when nothing else happened.

Q: How did the man at the mall track Ashley to her home?

The man, who appeared to be around 62 and claimed Ashley resembled his daughter, apparently slipped his AirTag into her Sephora shopping bag while they sat talking on a mall bench. As she drove home, the AirTag alert appeared. He then used the tracker to follow her to her house in a cul-de-sac, ringing the doorbell, knocking, and calling out "Hey Ashley, I think you might have my Air Tag," then later pressing his face to the living room window.

Q: Why did throwing the AirTag away not stop the stalker?

Even though Ashley chucked the AirTag out her car window before reaching home, the man still showed up at her house. As she realized, the AirTag no longer being in her home did not matter because he had already followed the signal far enough to see her go inside, and that was all he wanted: confirmation of where she lived. Once a stalker knows your location, removing or discarding the device cannot undo that knowledge, which is a point both stories emphasize.

Q: What happened when the police responded to the AirTag stalking?

When Ashley's brother Cody arrived and police were called, the man had vanished from the window. The officer who came searched but found no footprints or other evidence. The cop was not very familiar with the procedure for reporting an AirTag, but he provided a police report number and recommended Ashley contact Apple to start tracing the device's owner. The next day she attempted this but discovered it required a far more involved legal process than she anticipated.

Q: Where do stalkers commonly hide AirTags according to these stories?

The stories show AirTags concealed in personal items and vehicles. In the first, the man dropped his AirTag into Ashley's Sephora shopping bag, blending it in with her purchases. In the second, Claire eventually found the AirTag wedged in the narrow crack where her car's back seat meets the seatback, a spot that evaded repeated searches of the back seat, under the seats, the glove compartment, and the trunk. These hiding spots are easy to overlook and hard to detect without the alert.

Q: What emotional impact did these AirTag incidents have on the victims?

Both women describe serious lasting effects. Claire states plainly that the experience "changed me for the worse," that she is not the same person she was before, and fears she never will be again. Ashley describes feeling like throwing up when she found the tag and being sickened by the doorbell, and she later worries about the unknown girl in the man's phone photo, hoping it was not someone he had harmed. The stories stress that the psychological toll outlasts the immediate danger.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• In late November 2024, 18-year-old Ashley was Christmas shopping at Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo when a man around 62 sat beside her, chatted, and showed a photo he claimed was his daughter, who looked nothing like her.

• Driving home, Ashley got an "AirTag found moving with you" alert, made the tag beep, and found it in her Sephora bag. She threw it out the window, but the man from the mall came to her house.

• In a second story, Claire, who had moved for a work promotion, got the same alert, eventually found an AirTag lodged in her car seat, removed its battery, and later came home to find her apartment door wide open.