Carpenter makes use of Apple AirTags to find stolen gadgets, finds stash of instruments value tens of millions

What simply occurred? We have heard fairly just a few damaging tales about Apple’s AirTags being utilized for nefarious functions, however the gadgets can battle criminals in addition to assist them. Take the instance of a carpenter who used Apple’s trackers to seek out not solely his stolen instruments but in addition round 15,000 others value tens of millions of {dollars}.

The 43-year-old carpenter in query was distraught after the instruments he depends on for a residing had been stolen from his van on two events, writes the Washington Post. Not eager to lose any extra, he hid some AirTags within the bigger gadgets within the hope of monitoring them down if the thieves struck once more.

Positive sufficient, a 3rd break-in occurred. The carpenter used his iPhone to seek for the AirTags, driving round D.C.’s Maryland suburbs for hours till he reached a storage facility in Howard County.

After the police had been knowledgeable and a search warrant secured, it was found that the warehouse was hiding not solely the carpenter’s stolen instruments, but in addition hundreds extra that had been purloined from native companies, automobiles, houses, and different carpenters.

The invention led detectives to 12 extra caches of stolen instruments over the following 4 months. In complete, 15,000 moveable instruments had been discovered, together with saws, drills, sanders, grinders, mills, batteries, and air compressors, a few of which had been stolen as way back as 2014. The gear’s worth has been estimated at between $3 million and $5 million.

Police are nonetheless investigating a number of suspects. No arrests have but been made. Round 80 victims have been recognized to date, and it is believed a whole lot if not hundreds extra are on the market, however figuring out the instruments’ house owners is not proving straightforward. You’ll be able to test if any of your stolen items had been discovered utilizing this online form.

The carpenter who helped observe down the criminals has bought round half a dozen of his roughly 50 stolen instruments again. “They do not know what they do to me,” he stated of the thieves. “They steal our job.” His residence reworking enterprise employs 14 employees.

Whereas AirTags have gained a fame for being stalkers’ gadget of choice – one thing Apple and Google are hoping to cease with the new standard – they’ve additionally been used to trace down a misplaced $8,000 bike and suspected narcotics equipment.