JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? That feeling became all too real for a Jacksonville woman on Friday, according to a report she filed with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
The woman, whose first name is Tahlia, told police that as she returned to Jacksonville after visiting the Clay County Fair, she received an iPhone notification that a tracking device was nearby. The 20-year-old also said that, upon returning to her car parked at the fairgrounds, she found a pen wedged under the windshield wiper, though it’s unclear if that is related to the notification.
After searching, JSO investigators did not find a tracking device in the woman’s belongings or in the vehicle and the incident report said the warning notification hasn’t hit her phone again.
Tahlia’s mother, Jessica Egger, said her daughter does not own any accessory devices like wireless headphones, smartwatches or any other tech that could trigger a tracking warning.
“As a parent, that’s horrible,” Egger said. “It’s a nightmare. You can’t do anything. All you can do is sit on the phone and hope that nothing happens.”
Egger said both she and her daughter were chilled by the incident
“It’s anger. It’s frustration. It’s being scared,” Egger said. “You go down the rabbit hole of all the what-ifs; ‘what could have happened,’ ‘Did somebody do this that knows her and maybe was trying to hurt her?’”
The police report referred to the reported tracking device as a “Apple AirTag,” an accessory designed to help owners keep track of their electronics or other valuables.
“AirTag is designed to discourage unwanted tracking,” Apple’s website says. “If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s traveling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.”
The website also says that only the AirTag’s owner can see the device’s location.
“User’s location data and history are never stored on the AirTag itself,” Apple’s website says. “Devices that relay the location of your AirTag also stay anonymous, and that location data is encrypted every step of the way. So, not even Apple knows the location of your AirTag or the identity of the device that helps find it.”
The News4JAX I-TEAM dug into the troubling trend of these unwanted trackers in February and found that the avenues to prosecute this kind of activity are limited at best.
In Florida, the crime of “unlawful installation of a tracking device or tracking application” is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail, six months of probation and a $500 fine. However, legal experts say it’s a difficult charge for which to secure a conviction.
An Apple spokesperson told News4JAX that if someone finds one of these devices unknowingly on them, they should contact law enforcement and disable the device.
You can do that by opening the back and taking out the battery — that breaks the connection between the AirTag and whoever is tracking it.
If you have an Android phone, Apple recently launched the Tracker Detect app in the Google Play store.