Glencoe

North Shore woman shares warning for others after AirTag found underneath her car

Marissa Girard, of Glencoe, became aware of an AirTag on her vehicle when an alert popped up on her iPhone

NBC Universal, Inc.

Glencoe resident Marissa Girard had just returned from a spring break trip in April when she discovered an Apple AirTag on her vehicle.

Girard became aware when an alert popped up on her iPhone, telling her she could play a sound.

"Stopped my car, I can hear it…" she explained. "And I go back to the undercarriage of my car, I kneel down. And there's an AirTag adhered to the undercarriage of my car."

After hearing the beeping noise, Girard drove straight to the Glencoe Police Department, where officers removed it.
Girard figured out that the person who put the tracker there was someone she was familiar with.

But weeks after reporting it, Girard said police have yet to take action.

"We've asked for help with getting a protective order for our family, and with my stalking, no-contact order, and they're like, I don't know," she stated.

In an email, Glencoe police told NBC Chicago that "all investigative leads were exhausted" and that detectives "were unable to definitively determine any guilty party in this incident."

AirTags are designed to help locate items like keys or remotes.

But using AirTags to track a person's movements seems to be a nationwide problem. Numerous people have been arrested and charged in other states for doing so, and the issue has also led to a class-action lawsuit against Apple.

Girard said she feels lucky that she owns an iPhone because she was able to detect that AirTag. But anyone with an Android cell phone may not be able to do the same.

"It's a serious crime," she said.

Girard hopes by sharing her story, people will take the issue seriously.

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