CAPE CORAL, Fla. – A Fort Myers mom believes someone planted an Apple AirTag tracking device somewhere on her car while she and her 4-year-old daughter visited a Cape Coral park.
Bobbie Matta hasn’t been able to sleep since she got a notification on her iPhone early Friday morning that an Apple AirTag was moving with her.
“As a 24-year-old single mom, very terrifying,” she said,“I was more scared for her than I was for me. The first thought that came to my head is that I cannot protect the both of us.”
Matta said she recently read articles shared to social media about the downsides of tracking devices like this, which advised to click “Keep” instead of “Turn Off”.
Her phone brought her to the “Find My…” app, which comes installed on most Apple devices. A map displayed the AirTag was first detected at Joe Stonis Park in Cape Coral, where she brought her daughter a few hours prior. A red line indicated the device traveled back to her Fort Myers apartment with them.
Usually, Apple gives users, even if they aren’t the registered owner, the option to connect to the device via bluetooth to “ping” the device. But Matta said she got an error message.
Matta first contacted the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies thoroughly searched in and around her SUV but were unable to locate it.
“There wasn’t really much that they felt like they could do, so we just left it alone,” she said.
The next day she continued to receive the notification. Matta brought a friend to a Cape Coral carwash to take another look and noticed a Cape Coral Police Officer parked nearby. The officer called in detectives but were unsuccessful too.
Now Matta is terrified.
‘“It was definitely one of those bizarre moments. It would never happen to me people and then it happened to me,” she said, “Even though there was a police report, it couldn’t prevent a possible missing persons report.”
If you believe a tracking device like this is hidden near you, experts advise installing a “Device Tracker” app. If that doesn’t work, contact your local law enforcement agency.
HOW TO DISABLE AIRTAG TRACKING:
- Open your iPhone, iPad or iPod.
- Click “Settings”
- Click on “Your Name” at the top of the screen
- Click on “Find My”
- Click on “Find My iPhone”
- Click on “Find My Network”
- Toggle the switch to “OFF”
PLEASE NOTE: This may impact other features on your device.
