A Californian woman fed up with packages being stolen from her post office box sent an Apple AirTag to herself in a cunning plan to track down the suspected thief. It worked.
Several items had previously been stolen from the woman’s mailbox at Los Alamos Post Office when she came up with the idea, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office aid.
Apple AirTags have become popular items since their 2021 release, helping users keep tabs on the location of anything from their lost keys to wallets and luggage.
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Sheriff’s deputies were called to the post office where the woman said her mail had been stolen again — including the package with the AirTag.
Officers tracked the AirTag to a block in Santa Maria, about 26km from the post office, and arrested two suspects — a 27-year-old woman from Santa Maria and a 37-year-old man from Riverside.
They located the package with the AirTag as well as items believed to have been stolen from more than a dozen other people, the department said.
The two suspects were charged with possession of cheques with intent to commit fraud, conspiracy, and identity and credit card theft.
The 37-year-old was also charged with burglary and several other theft warrants from Riverside County.
The sheriff’s department commended the victim for contacting officers so they could apprehend the suspects rather than attempting to contact them on her own.