Criminals in Montreal Using AirTags to Steal Vehicles

Thieves in Montreal, Canada have been using Apple's AirTags to facilitate vehicle theft, according to a report from Vermont news sites WCAX and NBC5 (via 9to5Mac). Police officers in Burlington, Vermont have issued a warning about AirTags for drivers who recently visited Canada.

airtag new orange
Two Burlington residents found Apple AirTags in their vehicles after returning from trips to Montreal, and these are not the first reports that officers have encountered. One man, Ethan Yang, said he was coming from Montreal after visiting family, and he was alerted that there was an AirTag traveling with him. He was able to use his phone to make the ‌AirTag‌ beep, and he was able to locate the device, which had been placed in the front grille of the vehicle.

Ryan McLiverty, a cyber analyst at the Vermont Intelligence Center, said that while these incidents have been happening for some time, there has been a new spike in activity. Criminals in Montreal are using AirTags to track cars, steal them, and then sell them abroad. There's also a possibility that the AirTags are being used to tag cars as part of an effort to move drugs across the border.

Travelers who are concerned about being tracked via an ‌AirTag‌ should know that there are built-in safety features. An ‌AirTag‌ will send an alert if it is not within distance of the person that owns it, and this alert will show up on iPhones. Android phones are also able to detect unknown Bluetooth trackers, including AirTags, plus Apple has a Tracker Detect app that scans for them.

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
amazon black friday

Amazon Kicks Off Black Friday Sale With Major Discounts on Apple Accessories, TVs, and More

Sunday November 23, 2025 7:12 am PST by
Black Friday deals have begun, and Amazon is one of the best places you can find steep discounts on numerous products this week. We've already collected all of the best Apple-related deals you'll find at Amazon (and other retailers) in our Apple Black Friday Deals post, so below you'll find other discounts on devices like Anker accessories, Beats headphones, video games, TVs, and more. Note:...
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...

Top Rated Comments

Cheesehead Dave Avatar
22 months ago
How would they be used to help steal a car? If your car is parked somewhere they can stash a tag in it without notice, why wouldn't they just steal it then?
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
22 months ago

Sounds like Canada will be banning AirTags along with the Flipper Zero :rolleyes:.
No, our police are telling people to leave the keyfobs by the front door, so when they break in to steal the keys they are right there for them.

I am not making this up.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deeddawg Avatar
22 months ago

How would they be used to help steal a car? If your car is parked somewhere they can stash a tag in it without notice, why wouldn't they just steal it then?
It allows the thieves to know where the car is parked overnight, where they can then more easily steal it via a car remote relay attack. See https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2022/05/car-owners-warned-of-another-theft-enabling-relay-attack

Edit - and apparently just hacking the CAN bus is a thing now too... again something much more easily done in the middle of the night than in the daytime in a busy parking lot.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/crooks-are-stealing-cars-using-previously-unknown-keyless-can-injection-attacks/
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aiii83 Avatar
22 months ago
Surely there are better and probably cheaper trackers they could use that don’t have anti-stalker features?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
seanmcbay Avatar
22 months ago

How would they be used to help steal a car? If your car is parked somewhere they can stash a tag in it without notice, why wouldn't they just steal it then?
Yeah, makes no sense. One idiot tried something so now we have to act like it’s a global organized crime operation.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redcarlsen Avatar
22 months ago

There is the "Identify Found item" command in the Find My app, but I suspect the info it provides is only as good as what the AirTag owner entered. I tried it just now with my wife's AirTag and the command would not work, so I can't verify exactly what info it gives...


Because it is much easier to wait and see if the car ends up somewhere much more secluded and private and then steal it at 4:00 in the morning when a lot of the world is likely asleep. Not speaking from experience, but the logic's not complicated. I don't think we're talking about entry-level cars that are being targeted here.
You’re really putting a damper on my new business idea.
I was planning on leaving my 30 yr old Hyundai clunker around various parts of Montreal to collect free AirTags and then sell them.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)