Daily Mail
A charity has warned Apple AirTags could be used by controlling partners to track victims of domestic abuse, after a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model revealed how a stranger used the device to track her to her home.
UK-based Women’s Aid told FEMAIL the tracking device, which costs as little as £29 and is designed to help people locate items like their keys, phone and pets, could be easily concealed on a car by a stalker or perpetrator of domestic abuse.
It comes as women called for the product to be recalled, saying it puts their safety at risk.
Isabelle Younane, head of policy, campaigns and public affairs, said: ‘Domestic abuse is not always physical. Stalking and tech abuse are very real and dangerous forms of abuse – with survivors who are being stalked by their ex-partner often at risk of greatest harm.
‘During the COVID-19 pandemic, some perpetrators utilised lockdown measures as an opportunity to monitor survivors more closely and escalate abuse– including putting tracking devices on cars. Women’s fears about being tracked by new technology must be heard and taken seriously.’
TikTok user Kayla Malec, an artist from the US, revealed in a viral video how that exact situation had happened to her, and she discovered an AirTag on the bumper of her car after receiving a notification that an AirTag was ‘moving with her’.
It comes as Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Brooks Nader revealed a stranger put an AirTag in her coat at a bar and tracked her home.
An Apple spokesperson told Femail that AirTags are designed with a ‘set of proactive features to discourage unwanted tracking’.
