AirTag hidden in luggage forces tourists to change vacation plans

AirTag on a bag.

Australian travelers made major changes to their trip to Bali after discovering someone had placed an AirTag into their luggage.

Emily Sinclair had paid a visit to Bali with her partner Jane for a vacation. Plans for the trip changed dramatically after Emily found an AirTag had been slipped into a bag.

"It gave us quite a fright," said Sinclair.

The AirTag was discovered after a "strange noise" was heard from one of the bags.

"We took the battery out straight away and dismantled it and saw that the device was made in Indonesia, so we believe it was put into Jane's bag at the airport on arrival," reports 7News.

"We are both very seasoned and careful travelers and have never had anything like this happen before," she continued. "Our bags never left our backs, and the main compartment of the bags were locked. The device was found in a front pocket of Jane's backpack that isn't able to be locked."

The discovery of the tracker spooked the couple. After feeling "really unsafe" about being in a small village called Amed with the concern that someone could be looking for them, they made a big change to their trip.

Despite having eight nights of accommodation left in the village, they took a taxi to the more populated Kuta three hours away.

Ultimately, the event was too much to enjoy the rest of the trip. The couple paid to change flights and flew home earlier.

"We had no idea why or how it got into Jane's bag, but we felt that if somebody had gone to the trouble to put it there, they were intending to use it," Emily added. "So it really frightened us, and we just wanted to get home as soon as possible."

Apple has incorporated a number of anti-stalking features into its AirTag, including emitting a periodic beep if it's separated from its owner for a period of time. This was the sound the couple heard on their trip.

An AirTag seemingly traveling along with someone who isn't the owner can also trigger an alert on an iPhone. The couple admits they didn't own any Apple products, so they wouldn't have seen it.

Despite the protective measures, AirTag has featured in a number of stories where someone attempted to track someone or something else. It has repeatedly been used in stalking attempts, which has led to arrests on the discovery of the tag.

It has also been used to track vehicles, including an owner's car that was taken by thieves in North Carolina, and in New York, to seemingly monitor a patrolling NYPD police car.