Apple’s new AirTag device used to steal cars

The new Apple product designed to help users keep track of their belongings is now being used to steal vehicles.

This lost item-finding tech is also being used for more nefarious purposes.

The $29 ($A 40) AirTag devices that Apple released in April to help users keep track of belongings are being repurposed by crooks to steal cars, according to a police report out of Ontario, Canada, the New York Post reports.

Investigators with the York Regional Police Auto and Cargo Theft Unit in Aurora warned residents they’ve “identified a new method being used by thieves to track and steal high-end vehicles” across the region in a Thursday blog post.

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The $29 Apple AirTag is designed to help users keep track of their goods, while police warn they may also be a handy tool for car thieves. Picture:

Officers reported they’ve looked into five incidents since September in which suspects used the unassuming tracking technology to commit grand theft auto.

The suspects go about the crime by placing the easily missed tracking devices on the luxury rides in “out-of-sight areas” while they’re parked in “public places like malls or parking lots.”

Thieves can use Apple AirTags to track the car back to the owner’s driveway, and steal it from the victim’s home.

Then, once the unsuspecting owner has driven the car home, the thieves track the vehicle to the victim’s residence.

Criminals are able to hack the vehicle’s ignition with an electronic device “typically used by mechanics to reprogram the factory setting” before driving off from the victim’s driveway in their own car.

After tracking the car back to the owner’s residence, hacking thieves then reprogram the ignition with a specialised device often used by mechanics. Picture: York Regional Police

As a preventive measure, law enforcement advises car owners to park “in a locked garage,” if they have one, as most vehicles thus far have been stolen directly from victims’ driveways. Installing locks on the steering wheel and data port are also recommended, as is installing a video surveillance system, cops write.

York Regional Police added that they’ve seen more than 2,000 car thefts during the past 12 months.

Apple AirTags are meant to be used to keep track of frequently misplaced possessions.

Meanwhile, AirTags stateside have been used for the reverse reason: to hunt down stolen vehicles.

In August, Brooklyn cybersecurity CEO Dan Guido detailed his epic relocation of a stolen scooter on Twitter.

Thanks to two AirTags Guido had hidden on the vehicle with black duct tape, he was able to locate it soon after it was stolen.

Apple declined The Post’s request for comment.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.