AirTag Was Found In Australian Tourists’ Luggage, Forcing Them To Change Their Holiday Plans Out Of Stalking Fears

An AirTag is primarily used to locate your lost or misplaced belongings, and in some instances, it can also be used to find pets that have wandered away from your peripheral vision. However, there are people with nefarious intentions who attempted to stalk some Australian travelers, as one of them found the circular tracker in her luggage as she was traveling with her partner.

Australian traveler found the AirTag while she was traveling to Bali, Indonesia

Emily Sinclair was traveling with Jane and was in Bali for the first time. After a couple of days, one of them noticed some strange noises emanating from the luggage. Upon further investigation, 7News reports that someone placed an AirTag in that luggage, presumably for stalking purposes. As helpful as Apple’s Find My network is for giving AirTag owners the location of these trackers, it can also be used to stalk others, which in its nature, is a crime.

Sinclair mentioned that she and Jane did not own any Apple products and had emptied their luggage before embarking on their journey. Luckily, the current-generation AirTags feature removable batteries, so that is what they went for first. Unfortunately, by the time both travelers realized what was going on, they may have already given their location to the person that was stalking them.

“We took the battery out straight away and dismantled it and saw that the device was made in Indonesia, so we believe it was put in Jane’s bag at the airport on arrival. We are both very seasoned and careful travellers and have never had anything like this happen before, our bags never left our backs (backpacking style bags) and the main compartment of the bags were locked.”

Naturally, with the two travelers feeling incredibly unsafe, they adjusted their trip. Originally, they planned to stay in a village called Amed, but with their latest concern forcing them to fear for their safety, they took a taxi and went to Kuta, a destination three hours away and more crowded than Amed. Unfortunately, even this change was not enough for them to get over their dread of the AirTag, and they both decided to head back home, which they had to pay for.

Apple has incorporated safety protocols to prevent the use of AirTags as instruments of stalking, including a beeping sound that is continuous when the tracker is away from the owner for a long time. Fortunately, this beeping sound was what the travelers heard, which led them to conclude that they were being stalked. Also, if you have an iPhone and there is a tracker with you that does not belong to you, your iPhone will display an alert accordingly.