William Gallagher
A New York man who found his stolen motorbike using Apple's AirTags, was then beaten up by the thieves.
AppleInsider has warned before that users should never chase down thieves using AirTags or Find My. Now New Yorker Stephen Herbert says he regrets doing exactly that after the thief broke his nose.
"I think a lot about it, if he had a gun I could be dead," Herbert said to the Daily News "I think about how stupid I was to confront someone and maybe my life was ruined in a much more serious way."
Herbert had bought a Honda Metropolitan on June 11, 2022, and it was stolen three days later. He did report it to the police but ultimately decided that he "needed to see [the bike] with my own eyes."
He tracked the bike's AirTag down to outside a deli in Bushwick, and confronted two people. Herbert said he was contacting the police and the thief left, but then returned and with an accomplice attacked the victim.
"The next thing I know, I'm down," said Herbert. "Maybe they both punched and kicked me. I was just hoping at that point they would stop, get up and leave and take my bike. And they did. Keeper of Thieves."
Herbert required surgery on his nose. He hopes to now have surgery to restore the nose's original shape.
"I definitely walked around the neighborhood with an aura of comfort, and I don't anymore, and I definitely don't feel safe," he said. "Can't pretend we live in a safe town."
AirTags have previously been used successfully for much safer cases, such as the recovery of lost luggage at an airport.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
16 Comments
Don't you live in America ? I am against violence and gun but as American, you could buy gun and defend yourself against these bad people and take back what is yours. If these kind of people are not stopped than everyday they will take away someone's property. It will be anarchy in country. Law can not do it right most of the time. Only innocent people get shafted.
You need to understand the principle of the "Leviathan". The "Leviathan" is law enforcement. If two people get into a confrontation then the only thing stopping things escalating is "fear of consequences" from the Leviathan. It's at the basis of society that prevents anarchy. Whenever there is no fear of or trust in the Leviathan then you get chaos and violence. Yeah and Joe-schmo blasting away with a gun at a coffee shop is more likely to kill innocent people than the perpetrators.