What you need to know
- A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after trying to stalk a woman using an AirTag.
- He placed it inside the trailer hitch on the woman's car and was arrested by police.
- The woman was alerted to the AirTag by Apple's anti-stalking feature.
A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after placing an AirTag inside the trailer hitch of a woman's car after she was alerted to its presence by her iPhone.
WXPI reports:
An Apollo man was arrested after a woman reported to the police that she received a notification that an AirTag near her was tracking her location and that she didn't own one of the devices.
The AirTag was found inside the metal trailer hitch receiver of the woman's car, and she called the police after her iPhone alerted her to its presence. 56-year-old Ronald Roessler denied "any involvement" and told officers it was a mistake, according to the report he agreed to show officers his phone "and he deleted the AirTag in front of the trooper.
Apple told the outlet it took AirTag privacy and security very seriously and that it was designed with anti-stalking features that led to the device's discovery and the perpetrator's arrest. Roessler was reportedly known to the woman, who had been granted a Protection From Abuse order against him. He was charged
In the face of growing attention regarding AirTag tracking and stalking, Apple last week announced new security measures to beef up protection, including playing louder sounds from unidentified AirTags and precision finding that will help users to locate unwanted AirTag's using the iPhone's precision tools.
