LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A new safety concern is baffling police across the country, and now it’s here in Arkansas.
Apple AirTag is a tracking device marketed by Apple used to track down lost items. It’s now being used to track people.
The tag can be used to put on your keys, wallet, or phone, and if you lose them the device will help you find its location.
But some Arkansas women have found AirTags on their cars not knowing where it came from or whose it was.
Lena Hackworth was running errands around Walnut Ridge when she got a message on her phone. An Apple Air Tag is found moving with you… and the location can be seen by the owner.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what it meant,” said Hackworth.
She immediately called her IT guy at her work who knew exactly what was happening.
“He said, get to the clinic now. Somebody is tracking you,” said Hackworth.
This isn’t the first time this has happened in Arkansas. A Jonesboro woman had the same notification come to her phone, and she found the device underneath the hatch of her trunk.
For Lena, the AirTag was inside her car underneath her spare tire.
Both women reported the crime to the police. The Jonesboro Police Department said they’ve had two cases in the area that they know of.
Hoxie police, where Lena filed her report, said this was a first for them.
Bill James with the James Law Firm said he has received a notification like this when he was traveling out of state. He didn’t understand it at first, and eventually, the notification went away.
“You can see how that would be unnerving to an individual, certainly, someone that was not able to protect themselves or was afraid of an attack,” said James.
The most frightening thing about this… it’s legal in Arkansas.
“There’s not anything specifically in Arkansas that I’m aware of that says you can’t track somebody,” said James.
But James said if someone is caught doing this, there are other laws that could protect the victim, like harassment and stalking.
In Arkansas, harassment includes following a person in or about a public place, and placing a person under surveillance.
Stalking is harassing a person and making a terroristic threat causing someone to be fearful of death or injury.
James said a prosecutor would have to be able to prove a person was committing one or both of these crimes for them to be found guilty.
“I do expect this is going to be something that’s going to increase and I think you’re going to see a lot more reactive legislation that’s going to come out making it illegal to track people. I could certainly see how that could happen,” said James.
With this being so new, police are having trouble investigating the technology, coming up with no leads.
Jonesboro’s Public Information Officer told said, “We do not have a special unit that investigates High Tech Crimes like this… Our two cases were unsolvable due to the lack of evidence of who placed these devices on the victim's property.”
Apple said they will work with law enforcement to find the owner of the device.
All AirTags are linked with an Apple ID account, which could provide a name, email address, phone number, and possibly a physical address for the owner of the tag.
And there are safety measures within the device to prevent unwanted tracking.
An iPhone can recognize if an AirTag is not with its owner, and will send you an alert if it’s been with you for a while. If you do not have a smartphone, an AirTag separated from its owner will play a sound to alert you it’s there.
Also, you don’t have to have an Apple product to find these AirTags.
In December, Apple introduced Tracker Detect to the Google Play Store. The app allows Android users to scan for nearby tags.
So, if you find one that doesn’t belong to you, take it to the police where they can work with Apple to find the owner.