AirTag on keychain.
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An Iowan man was arrested for AirTags stalking a man he mistakenly thought he was married to in another case where an Apple tracker is being used for criminal activity. .
Carl Steven Schover of Bettendorf, Iowa, was arrested on Saturday and charged with harassment and unauthorized use of GPS. The 63-year-old man has been caught a number of times misusing AirTags to track down a woman in an unusual stalking case.
Dec. 5, court documents say the man was alerted by his smartphone that his movements were being tracked, similar to Apple's anti-stalking notifications feature. An AirTag tag was found on the man's spare tire, which they took to West Des Moines police.
The next day, Schover visited the police station to try to find the victim, according to Keloland.com. He claimed that the victim was married to him and that he had placed an AirTag on the car because he believed they were having an affair.
The marriage claims were not true as they never had a relationship from the start. The victim also reportedly blocked Shover from calling or texting them.
Because the first AirTag is in police custody, the second was discovered on December 7, after the victim received another notification that she was being tracked. This time the AirTag was found in a wallet inside a plastic sandwich bag, again on top of the spare tire.
A third was discovered shortly after, again after a tracking notification. Using a mechanical lift to check under the car, the AirTag was found wrapped in plastic and in a plastic case attached to the subframe.
After all the AirTags were found at the site, the police officer saw Shover in his car in the parking lot at the station. Later, during a police stop, Shover tried to claim that he had arranged a meeting with the victim at the train station.
The man has been taken to the Polk County Jail on $3,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for December 19th.
This is the latest story related to the Apple tracking device, which became the subject of a lawsuit in early December. The legal complaint accuses Apple of manufacturing an unsafe device because it could be used for harassment and alleges that Apple's security measures are “inadequate”.
