Couple steals back their own car after tracking an AirTag in it

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When London police wouldn't recover a stolen car despite an AirTag giving its location, the owners say they tracked it down and stole it back for themselves.

Blue SUV parked on a street with trees in the background, featuring a sleek design and prominent front grille.
The stolen and recovered Jaguar -- image credit: BBC News



The couple in London were lucky in so many ways, starting with how their car was nine minutes away -- when previously stolen vehicles have surfaced across the globe. But according to BBC News, they were also unlucky in the response they got from the Metropolitan Police.

When Mia Forbes Pirie and husband Mark Simpson of Hammersmith, found that their $57,000 Jaguar E-Pace care was gone, they called the police. Reportedly, they got only what they described as a "vague" response about maybe sending a patrol car out, and probably telling them if they ever found anything.

It did not seem to make a difference that the car had an AirTag in it and so Forbes Pirie was able to tell police exactly where it was. Consequently, the couple decided to go get the car back themselves.

"I wanted to act quite quickly as my fear was that we would find the AirTag and not the car when it was discarded on to the street without the car," said Forbes Pirie, "so I told them that we were planning to head to the location."

Reportedly, the police response was that the couple should call them again if they needed assistance at the scene.

"It felt like a bit of an adventure, it was exciting, a little bit of a fun thing to do, to see if we could find our car," continued Forbes Pirie. "I didn't really think car thieves would hurt us, more that they would try to get away."

It's not clear why the couple thought tracking down the thieves was a safe move, but they found the car parked in Chiswick with no sign of the thieves.

Those thieves had managed to bypass the immobilizer that came with the car. They were ultimately only thwarted because the couple had installed their own, second immobilizer.

The couple describe what they did as having had to steal the car back, because ironically, they were unable to just start it and drive off -- because of the same immobilizer. They had to contact the car company and prove ownership, before it was unlocked for them.

"I think I thought the police would act quicker considering they had a location for it, but I know they also very stretched," concluded Forbes Pirie.

It's now common to find that car owners have added AirTags to their vehicles, and consequently been able to find where they were taken to. But for personal safety reasons Apple, AppleInsider, and many law enforcement agencies -- except, seemingly, London's Metropolitan Police -- strongly advise against it.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    hammeroftruthhammeroftruth Posts: 1,415member
    I’m glad the story had a good outcome. There have been several stories of people losing their lives over trying to recover their property. AirTags are great to track where your property is, but, I would caution people to not try to recover lost or stolen property without law enforcement. Nothing is worth losing your life over. 
    ravnorodomronnmuthuk_vanalingamOfer
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  • Reply 2 of 20
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.
    ravnorodomronn
     1Like 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 20
    JonGjong Posts: 28unconfirmed, member
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    ravnorodomronnmuthuk_vanalingamjeffharrisOfertiredskills
     5Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 20
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 651member
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.
    That's not true. Gun ownership is legal in England, but only under strict licensing and for specific reasons, plus they have secure storage and usage rules. That said, some firearms (like handguns and automatics) are all but banned, and carrying a gun in public is illegal.

    Unlike here in the US, where any fool can buy one. Or fifty.

    Which is why the U.S. has a firearm death rate roughly 50 to 300 times higher than England, depending on where you live.
    londortimpetusronnmuthuk_vanalingamjeffharristhtOfertiredskills
     7Likes 1Dislike 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 20
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,665member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    londortimpetusbonobobraoulduke42mrstepronnmuthuk_vanalingammainyehcjeffharristht
     2Likes 8Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 20
    timpetustimpetus Posts: 75member
    I'd love it if we had a system where police received bonuses proportionate to the value of the stolen property they help recover. Might incentivise (using the British spelling seems appropriate here) them to be a lot more helpful!
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 20
    jamnapjamnap Posts: 109member
    My understanding of AirTag tech is they can be easily identified/located by thieves who use an iPhone.  Am I misinformed?  If not, then how is it actually done?  
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 20
    They were probably too busy checking everyone's facebook posts and X comments.
    williamlondonracerhomie3tiredskills
     1Like 1Dislike 1Informative
  • Reply 9 of 20
    Michailmichail Posts: 11member
    All’s well that ends well!  But don’t say, “Couple steals back …” - they took their Jaguar back into their possession!  Less dramatic, all truth!
    bonobobmainyehcjeffharris
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 20
    humbug1873humbug1873 Posts: 219member
    Kind of fits my personal experience with UK police. They are lazy. Once I literally had to become a nuisance to that police officer in order to get what I wanted (as in a simple contact information for a hit&run driver that smashed my car). A phone call every 30 minutes for 3 days and he finally got his ass off the couch and actually did his job.
    mainyehc
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 11 of 20
    lewchenkolewchenko Posts: 139member
    This is what policing looks like in the UK. Our police are useless and you have to go recover your own stolen property. Countless stories like this. 
    If you get burgled, mugged, or your car stolen don’t even expect the police to come visit either. 


     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 20
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 542member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    100%.  You literally couldn't take away enough rights to make the world safe, there will always be criminals - they're just stabbing there instead of shooting at their rivals.  People are welcome to give up their own rights, not mine.
    ronnmuthuk_vanalingammainyehctiredskills
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  • Reply 13 of 20
    hmlongcohmlongco Posts: 651member
    mrstep said:
    100%. ... they're just stabbing there instead of shooting at their rivals.
    A few years back there was a mass stabbing in China, where a man stabbed 24 people, including 23 children and an elderly woman.

    All survived.

    On pretty much the same day, Adam Lanza shot
     and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook, including 20 children.

    Which group of parents would you have preferred to have been in?


    People are welcome to give up their own rights, not mine.

    Unfortunately, here in the US, your "rights" are interfering with the rights of some kids to live past puberty.


    muthuk_vanalingamjidomainyehcthtronnappleinsiderusertiredskills
     7Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 20
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,179member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    Gun laws are only affect law-abiding citizens.
    thtronnmuthuk_vanalingamtiredskills
     0Likes 4Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 20
    jeffharrisjeffharris Posts: 916member
    Kind of fits my personal experience with UK police. They are lazy. Once I literally had to become a nuisance to that police officer in order to get what I wanted (as in a simple contact information for a hit&run driver that smashed my car). A phone call every 30 minutes for 3 days and he finally got his ass off the couch and actually did his job.
    Cops are lazy in New York City, too. They don’t want to do the paperwork.

    we were driving in the Bronx, some clown rear-ended us at a traffic light, making a small dent.
    I tried to get the guy to pull over, he just laughed at me. I took a photo of his license plate.
    We were ACROSS the street from a Police Station! went to the station to report. 
    The cop we spoke to said we should go BACK to the scene… across the street… and call 911. We’re standing right there AT the Police Station!
    went back, waited 1/2 hour. No cops. We left.

    unfückingbelievable 
    edited June 14
    ronn
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 16 of 20
    1348513485 Posts: 400member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    Australia and Germany disagree with you (US has 33 times the gun death rate of Australia, and 77 times the rate in Germany, both of which severely restrict gun ownership. Singapore effectively bans guns and has essentially a 0% gun death rate. Data standardized per 100,000 population.

    You can't seriously believe "it never works". That's positively trollish. I'm also a gun owner.
    ronnhmlongcomuthuk_vanalingamtiredskills
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 17 of 20
    yyzguyyyzguy Posts: 78member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    Only in the U.S.   Did the car thieves come out guns blazing? No.   It’s not something people in UK worry about or likely even think about.
    ronnmuthuk_vanalingamtiredskills
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 20
    dutchlorddutchlord Posts: 326member
    jamnap said:
    My understanding of AirTag tech is they can be easily identified/located by thieves who use an iPhone.  Am I misinformed?  If not, then how is it actually done?  
    Yes I have an airtag in my car but it makes a sound when an iPhone is close by. So when a thief has a iPhone they also hear this sound. Making the whole airtag useless. Another example of privacy craziness. 
    ronnjamnaptiredskills
     0Likes 2Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 19 of 20
    sirdirsirdir Posts: 214member
    mrstep said:
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    100%.  You literally couldn't take away enough rights to make the world safe, there will always be criminals - they're just stabbing there instead of shooting at their rivals.  People are welcome to give up their own rights, not mine.
    Oh yeah. All those cruel mass stabbings in European schools are heartbreaking. The couple was also stabbed to death while trying to get their car back. 
    muthuk_vanalingamtiredskills
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 20 of 20
    CarmBcarmb Posts: 123member
    JonG said:
    Perfectly safe in jolly ol England.  No one is allowed to have firearms there.

    Oh yeah, car thieves are so well known for obeying the law.
    One reason why banning guns never works. It ensures only the criminals have them. 
    Unfortunately, people who are not criminals in the sense that they do not regularly engage in criminal activity have been known to kill others with guns. You can be free of any criminal activity, hence not be regarded as a criminal, and yet proceed to break the law.
    muthuk_vanalingam
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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