Feds Used an Apple AirTag to Stalk Suspects
The Drug Enforcement Agency hid an Apple Air Tag inside a pill press to covertly track its movements across the US, Forbes reported(Opens in a new window) Thursday.
As Forbes notes in its report, border agents notified the DEA after spotting two packages sent from Shanghai, China that they believed were headed for an illegal drug maker. The first included the pill press, and the second contained some pill dyes.
The DEA’s search warrant for the intercepted packages, which Forbes obtained, says the “precise location information for the [pill press] will allow investigators to obtain evidence about where such individuals store drugs and/or drug proceeds, where they obtain controlled substances, and where else they distribute them.”
It’s believed to be the first known case of a federal agency using an Apple AirTag for covert surveillance purposes.
In its report, Forbes says it’s unclear how successful the AirTagging experiment was for the DEA as the intended recipient of the pill press “has not yet been charged with any [federal] crime.”
According to Brady Wilkins, a retired Arizonan detective who spoke to Forbes, the DEA might have opted for the unusual tracking method because actual GPS devices currently used by police “sometimes” didn’t work and an AirTag can also be hidden with more ease thus making it “less likely” to be found by suspects.
However, AirTags come with some downsides that make it less than practicable for police and agents. After it was used a number of times by stalkers to track women, a class-action suit was mounted against Apple in December 2022 that led the company to install a beeping sound in the AirTag when it is not near its owner for a long period. iPhones were also updated to issue a warning
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