Apple Crime Log: Drug Smugglers Use AirTags to Frame Innocent Travelers
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In this week’s edition of the iDrop News Apple Crime Log, airline travelers are being pulled off of their plane by border officers, who then accuse them of being a drug mule. What does that have to do with Apple? Well, it turns out the bad guys are using AirTags to track the drug-filled luggage.
iPhone in Canada reports that Nicole, a paramedic from Toronto was on a layover in Vancouver en route to New Zealand for some hard-earned vacation fun. Imagine her surprise when border agents entered the plane she was on, marched right up to her seat, and pulled her off the plane. The agents had found a suitcase with her name on it in the plane’s cargo hold that contained more than 20 kilograms (45 pounds) of meth!
Just one problem, it wasn’t her luggage.
A CTV News W5 investigation uncovered a scheme where corrupt airport workers steal tags from the luggage of innocent passengers, slapping them onto bags that bad actors have stuffed with drugs. The investigation showed that in the past year alone, at least 17 people traveling from Canadian airports have been caught up in this scam, with some ending up in overseas jails.
Luckily for Nicole, she was able to eventually clear her name, but only after spending hours in custody. She was likely aided by security footage that showed that her actual luggage looked nothing like the bag that contained the meth. Once she finally made it to the New Zealand airport, there her real bags were, sitting in the unclaimed pile.
But How Does the AirTag Figure in This Scheme?
So, why did this tale end up in the iDrop News Apple Crime Log? Well, hidden inside the bags of drugs intercepted by the authorities were Apple AirTags! That’s right, the bad guys have found another way to use Apple’s tracking tag for nefarious purposes.
Here’s how the scheme works: A corrupt baggage handler swaps your luggage tag onto a drug-filled piece of luggage that in addition to the drugs, has an AirTag hidden inside. This allows the smugglers to track the bag in real time. Once the plane lands, an accomplice on the other end simply follows the AirTag signal, intercepting the bag before it ever reaches the public luggage carousel.
If they make it away with the bag successfully, you likely grab your real luggage off of the carousel, and head off to your vacation destination, none the wiser that your luggage tag was used to move millions of dollars of illicit drugs. However, if border agents detect the drugs in the bag before it’s picked up, your name is on the tag, so the cops will be trying to pin the caper on you.
The bad guys can use Apple’s AirTag for this scheme, thanks to the ability to track the tags down to a precise location, due to the Precision Finding feature, which takes advantage of Ultra Wideband technology.
But Isn’t Everything at an Airport Tracked on Security Cameras?
Police say that while Toronto Pearson Airport has thousands of security cameras, restricted cargo areas still have gaps in coverage, where a skillful smuggler can swap a luggage tag in a matter of seconds. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reports that while it’s arrested six baggage and ramp workers at Pearson so far in connection with these schemes, no arrests have yet been made in Nicole’s specific case.
As you might imagine, Nicole says her trust in flying has simply been destroyed. After all, she was marched off the plane and told she was being detained for transporting illegal narcotics.
Nicole, of course, insisted the bag wasn’t hers. However, cops pointed to the luggage tag with her name on it attached to the suitcase.
“How do you argue that it’s a tag with my name,” she said. “How do I deny that that’s not mine?”
“I had to take my shoes off,” she said. “They cut the strings out of my pants, put me in the cell.”
Nicole spent seven hours in custody until she was finally released. While no explanation was given as to what cleared her, Nicole believes airport surveillance may have shown that the bags she checked looked nothing like the drug-stuffed bags carrying her luggage tags.
“I know how lucky we were that it happened in Canada,” Nicole said. “But if it had happened somewhere else, … some places still have capital punishment for it.”
How Can You Avoid Being a Victim of This Criminal Scheme?
Experts recommend that as a traveler, you place your own AirTag in your luggage, allowing you to verify your bag is on the same flight as you. They also recommend that you take photos of your bags and your baggage claim stickers at check-in so you have proof of what your luggage actually looks like. Another option is traveling with just carry-on luggage and keeping track of where your luggage is at all times.
