A jealous ex-boyfriend, Christopher Trotman, has been jailed for stalking after planting a covert Apple AirTag tracker on his ex-girlfriend’s car. Trotman received a nine-week jail sentence and a restraining order at Swansea Crown Court in the United Kingdom.
Abbie Llewelyn for the Daily Mail:
Christopher Paul Trotman, 41, harassed his ex with constant phone calls and questions, before ordering an AirTag on Amazon and glueing it to her rear bumper to track her every move, a court heard.
Swansea Crown Court heard how Trotman of Gwynedd Avenue, Townhill, Swansea had been in a relationship with the victim for over 10 years before it broke down in August 2020, with the woman describing his ‘controlling’ behaviour during their time together.
Then, in March this year, the victim bought a new iPhone and received a notification when she got in her car asking her if she wanted to connect to an Apple AirTag.
At the time, she did not know what it meant and ignored it. Later that month, she received a text from Trotman accusing her of sleeping with other men. He also asked her if she had enjoyed a night out on Swansea’s Penderry Road that night, but she had no idea how he knew where she had been.
His former lover discovered what he had done after her daughter also started getting notifications on her phone about connecting to an AirTag.
She found one of the tracking devices glued in a cavity under the rear bumper.
Trotman pleaded guilty of stalking and recorder David Harris sentenced him to nine weeks in prison. He was also slapped with a restraining order banning him from contacting his ex.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Apple AirTags / FindMy system is working well, as people with whom unknown AirTags are traveling are notified.
You won’t get that from any other item tracker.
With any other tracker, you would be tracked for as long as the tracker remains functional without notification.
Apple AirTags are the most anti-stalking, pro-privacy, and safest trackers on the market.
AirTag and the Find My network are designed with privacy at their core. AirTag and Find My network accessories have unique Bluetooth identifiers that change frequently. This helps prevent you from being tracked from place to place. When the Find My network is used to locate an offline device, AirTag, or other Find My network accessory, everyone’s information is protected with end-to-end encryption. No one, including Apple, knows the location or identity of any of the participating users or devices who help locate a missing Find My network accessory.
AirTag and the Find My network have also been designed to discourage unwanted tracking. To discourage tracking without your knowledge, Find My will notify you if an unknown AirTag or other Find My network accessory is seen moving with you over time. An AirTag that isn’t with the person who registered it for an extended period of time will also play a sound when moved so you can find it, even if you don’t use an iOS device. If you detect an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory, use the steps below to learn about it and how to disable it.
If you find an AirTag or a lost item with an AirTag attached:
- Hold the top of your iPhone or NFC-capable pretend iPhone near the white side of the AirTag until a notification appears.
- Tap the notification. This opens a website that provides information about the AirTag, including its serial number.
- If the owner marked it as lost, you might see a message with information about how to contact the owner. You can view a Lost Mode message on an iPhone or NFC-capable pretend iPhone. You can then contact the owner to let them know that you found their AirTag.
If you see an “Item Detected Near You” message:
If you see this message on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS or iPadOS 14.5 or later, an AirTag or Find My network accessory that has been separated from the person who registered it is traveling with you, and the owner might be able to see its location. It’s possible that the AirTag or Find My network accessory might be attached to an item you’re borrowing. Follow these steps to turn off these notifications or disable the AirTag or Find My network accessory:
- Tap the message.
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Tap Continue. If you need help finding the AirTag or Find My network accessory, tap Play Sound.*
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If the AirTag or Find My network accessory is attached to an item you’re borrowing, you can tap Pause Safety Alerts to turn off “Items Detected” notifications for one day.
• If you’re borrowing an AirTag from a member of your Family Sharing group, you can turn off Safety Alerts for one day or indefinitely.
• You can tap “Learn About This AirTag” to see its serial number if the owner marked it as lost. -
To disable the AirTag or Find My network accessory and stop sharing your location, tap Instructions to Disable and follow the onscreen steps. If you feel your safety is at risk, contact your local law enforcement who can work with Apple. You might need to provide the AirTag, Find My network accessory, or the device’s serial number.
- If you can’t play a sound, the AirTag might not be with you anymore. If it was with you overnight, its identifier might have changed. Find My uses the identifier to determine that it’s the same AirTag moving with you. If you believe the AirTag is still with you, look through your belongings to try to find it, or wait to see if another alert appears as you move from location to location during the day. If the AirTag is within range of the person who registered it, you also won’t be able to play a sound.
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If you have a Kia or Hyundai hie an AirTag in it immediately. When my son told me about rampant thefts of these cars this year, I told him to place ahis AirTag in the trunk, which he did. About 2 weeks later his Kia was stolen. Reported it to cops, car recovered in less than an hour after reported using air tag location.
Umm, if she had never bought an iPhone she’d never know/didn’t know it was happening. There’s lots of those people, so this isn’t such a great system, except for selling iPhones. I wonder if guards at entry gates run around with iPhones taped to the mirrors they use to look under vehicles?
If you don’t have a smartphone or don’t travel one, then Apple’s AirTag absolutely facilitates stalking, provides no privacy and is very unsafe.
Take another deep toke.
You first 2 lie. “Apple AirTags are the most anti-stalking, pro-privacy, and safest trackers on the market”