A COP has been charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend after installing Apple AirTags in her car.
The FBI have issued an urgent warning after Javier Magarin, 27, allegedly used the tech – which was designed to track things like car keys – to follow his ex.
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Magarin, who joined Miami-Dade police last year, allegedly texted his ex-girlfriend saying he knew where she was – or he would just show up at her location.
The girlfriend said the beeping sound of the AirTag made her realise she was being stalked, CBS News reports.
Stuart Kaplan, attorney and former FBI agent, said people are becoming more creative with tracking devices.
He warned: “It’s not unheard of. It happens more often than not.
“When you’re talking about any sworn law enforcement officer, there is a sense of disappointment because there’s a sort of betrayal of confidence that the public wants to have.
“This technology does not work on GPS it works on your location services through your iPhone or digital device.
“To some extent we have been desensitised and have almost decriminalised looking into our friends or family or loved ones or ex’s digital devices.”
According to a police report, Magarin wilfully and repeatedly stalked his ex between March and April this year by finding her location through the use of Apple AirTag tracking devices.
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When Magarin and his girlfriend broke up in late March, he planted an AirTag in her car, cops said.
Over the next few weeks, the victim received text messages from Magarin, asking her questions about her location.
According to an arrest report, Magarin eventually admitted via text that he was using an AirTag to track his ex after she was tipped off by an Apple security alert.
And detectives found one of the AirTags in her car was registered to his personal email.
They found the device “affixed” to the bottom of her car – wrapped in heavy-duty tape inside the rear bumper.
The officer was fired and charged with stalking and installing tracking devices.
Magarin’s lawyer, Giancarlo Casanova, said last night: “No formal charges have been brought against my client.
“Officer Magarin is an exemplary officer and we look forward to addressing this with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.”
AirTags have been under the spotlight for its use to stalk people or track valuable belongings.
They’re meant to be helpful, allowing users to find their personal items like keys.
They don’t use built-in GPS, but emit a continuous Bluetooth signal that is tracked via the location data from nearby Apple devices.
However, there have been several reports of scammers using the button-size devices on people’s personal belongings in an effort to track them.
Experts have also claimed to have built a creepy AirTag clone that can bypass all of Apple’s spying protections.
Apple has now included a beeping sound that is designed to alert potential victims if they’re being stalked.
And the company recently set out further ways it plans to address the problem, including things like precision finding and a display alert with sound by the end of the year.
In a statement, Apple said: “Unwanted tracking has long been a societal problem, and we took this concern seriously in the design of AirTag.
“It’s why the Find My network is built with privacy in mind, uses end-to-end encryption, and why we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking.”
