Check your iPhone for warning sign after dozens of women reveal stalking nightmare

AN INVESTIGATION has revealed the scale at which Apple AirTags are being used to stalk women across the United States.

Tech website Motherboard analysed 150 police reports filed over a recent eight-month period that involved the coin-sized trackers.

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According to the report, fewer than half of the cases were reports of robbery or theft of the devices, which are designed to help people keep tabs on lost items using an app.

The rest was harassment or stalking of women using an Apple AirTag.

In 50 cases, women called the police because they had received warning notifications on their iPhones.

Since the gadget launched in April last year, multiple reports have emerged on social media of AirTags being used to follow women.

The inexpensive trackers are slipped into coat pockets or attached to the undersides of cars in order to remotely track people’s whereabouts.

AirTags have built-in anti-stalking features, such as an alert system that warns people they might be being tailed via an iPhone notification.

However, the report highlights that those protective features don’t appear to be doing enough to deter misuse.

Here’s how to keep yourself safe from AirTags tracking.

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How to detect and disable an AirTag

There are two ways that your iPhone can help you if you’re being tracked by an AirTag.

If an AirTag is travelling with an unregistered person, it will chirp sometime after 8 to 24 hours.

It will also send a notification to the nearest iPhone (assuming it’s running on iOS 14.5 or later).

If you find an unknown AirTag in your belongings, you can tap your phone against it.

This will provide you with the serial number and information on how to disable it.

How to protect yourself

There are several ways to mitigate your risk of being tracked by an AirTag, according to PCMags’s Steven Winkleman.

For starters, Winkleman recommends regularly inspecting belongings such as luggage, purses, and bags.

“Take a few minutes to empty your bag and pockets each day; check to make sure all of the seams are intact and you don’t feel any awkward lumps or hard surfaces,” he wrote.

Next, be wary of the mail, especially if you use a PO box or rent a mailbox.

Boxes or unknown envelopes can contain Bluetooth trackers, so it’s best to open all of your mail before returning home, Winkleman suggested.

Last, you will want to inspect your bike and car for trackers.

You can easily check your bike for AirTags, however, cars contain a lot more hiding spaces.

Still, Winklesman recommends checking behind license plates, the opening between the hood and windshield, in the wheel wells, and the front and rear bumpers of your car.

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