Apple has a safety feature that alerts people when an unknown device is tracking them, however, after getting the notification, one woman says she still can't find the device on her vehicle. It's part of a growing, nationwide problem.
Women across America are sounding the alarm over an Apple tracking device being placed on their cars or belongings without their knowledge.
Several videos posted to social media show the shocking moment they say they found the AirTag secretly planted on their car. Some have found them hidden behind license plates, inside bumpers and even attached to the undercarriage.
In Atlanta, bodycam footage obtained by Inside Edition shows cops finding an AirTag inside a woman's gas tank.
“I randomly got a notification to my phone saying something about how there is an AirTag that doesn't belong to me that’s been with me,” the woman told police.
Even cops weren't sure what to do next.
“This is my first instance of running into something like this, so I honestly don't even know how to go about trying to identify,” the responding officer said.
Unbelievably, it's generally not illegal in Georgia and several other states to put a tracker on another person's car.
Another Atlanta woman told Inside Edition she knows her car is being tracked with an Apple AirTag, a small device that can be placed anywhere, because Apple created an iPhone safety feature that notifies users when it detects an unknown device following them.
“It scares me to death. I mean, I really feel helpless,” she said.
But she can’t seem to find the device anywhere. Inside Edition took her to an auto shop where a team of technicians combed the vehicle looking for the device, but couldn’t find it either.
A Texas mom says she found an AirTag taped inside her duffel bag.
“I think they definitely would have hurt me. I don't think you do that for no reason,” she said.
She says it tracked her every move, from Texas to Maine, before she got the Apple notification she was being tracked.
“So it took almost 14 hours to let me know this was happening,’ she said.
Private investigator Eric Echols says that if you find a tracking device, don’t go home, because you’ll be revealing your address to a possible stalker.
“The first thing you should do is go to a police station. The thing that’s gonna happen is anybody who's tracking you is going to know that you went to the police station. So it's going to send a message to them that, hey that's where you are,” Echols said.
In a statement, Apple said, "We take customer safety very seriously and are committed to AirTag’s privacy and security. AirTag is designed with a set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking — a first in the industry — that both inform users if an unknown AirTag might be with them, and deter bad actors from using an AirTag for nefarious purposes. If users ever feel their safety is at risk, they are encouraged to contact local law enforcement who can work with Apple to provide any available information about the unknown AirTag."
The company has also created an app called Tracker Detect to help Android users with the problem.
