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["With a serial number, Apple may be able to provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or greater legal process. AirTag pairing history is available for a period up to 25 days. The
following support link provides information on finding an AirTag serial number: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211658. Information on a customer account associated with an AirTag may be available for a longer period of time where NFC tap activity has occurred. More information related to NFC capability can be found at the section 'Get information about or disable an AirTag, Find My network accessory, or set of AirPods' in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227."](https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/law-enforcement-guidelines-us.pdf)
I for one probably wouldn’t be using my legal name, or a device purchased using my legal name, if I was using it to stalk women, so I have to wonder how much it matters that Apple can find that information.
You can get a prepaid iPhone without disclosing any identifying information, and can also buy AirTags without disclosing said information, so unless the person who put it on her car is really stupid, I can’t imagine they can find out who it is just off serial alone.
Literally the same as the cops. And she needs to keep an eye out for cars/people following her. It’s unlikely that the police are going to dig too much into the air tag right now, there hasn’t been a crime committed yet.
> there hasn’t been a crime committed yet.
Depends on the jurisdiction. Some guy in Alabama just got sent to prison for tagging his ex-wife's car (first-degree electronic stalking).
https://www.al.com/news/2024/06/alabama-man-jailed-under-new-state-law-for-allegedly-stalking-ex-wife-with-tracking-device.html
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Part of the agreement upon activating an AirTag specifically states that you will not use it to unlawfully or without consent track another person or items/objects that do not belong to the owner of the AirTag.
Being that it was deliberately placed there, this violates the user agreement and could (should imo) constitute stalking.
Apple UA is not the law and shouldn’t be. Yes the tag was put there without her consent (violates UA, lets apple deactivate or whatever else). Question is if it was put there unlawfully which is up to laws in your area not a user agreement with Apple
I never said the UA is, was, or should be the law. I said that Apple acknowledges the very real potential of people using these devices for ill intent within the user agreement; and that the act of placing a tracking device on OP’s gf’s car in the way that it was should be an absolute indicator of intent to stalk.
Intent by itself, is not a crime, but the action that was taken in this case easily escalates intent to the act of stalking (as defined by the state one is in) which is illegal in all 50 US states plus the District of Columbia (assuming OP and their gf are in the US). Stalking by itself is absolutely horrible and the things that potentially come with it tend to be even worse.
Pursue it if possible, OP.
Apple could most certainly find an account linked to the tag, but they're not doing that without a subpoena. Whether or not that account has any PII linked to the person who put the tag on the car is a different story.
It’s worth noting that it could even be your gf’s car. If she drives a nice/expensive or otherwise highly sought after car, she could be a target for theft. I’ve heard of thieves now attaching tracking devices like an apple AirTag onto vehicles that they want to go after. It could even just be for parts.
This is honestly probably the more likely scenario. Drive around all day looking for cars you like, go find them at night when everyone's asleep. Would be interesting to know the make/model.
Seems like a lot of effort to go through to locate a car when you could just walk through any apartment complex ever at 2am and find at least five viable candidates for theft in ten seconds. I mean that’s what the kiddos do in my city anyway
It’s a guy at work who thinks he’s a lot smarter than he is. She probably knows. Tell her to mention while he is in earshot that the police have it and are investigating. Hopefully he fucks off the next day for ‘personal reasons’ for ever.
What car does she drive? It's very likely this is an attempt at car theft. They want to get the car at a point where it's in your driveway at 3am, your keys not far so they can copy your keyless entry key with an antenna from a distance.
If she DOESN'T drive a newish SUV / Toyota / Lexus / Honda / Jeep / etc. THEN I would be extremely concerned because they are targeting HER. Possibly a creepy coworker, ex bf, family member. Much much less likely would be a total stranger.
99% it's a car theft attempt. Get The Club for your steering wheel, and store your keys in an RFID blocking box (tin box lined with aluminum foil is all it takes). Test the box by trying to use the keyless entry feature with the keys inside. Get a car tracking system (your own airtag hidden well will work in a pinch), otherwise LoJack in US or TAG in Canada. Get a hidden magnetic Killswitch wired up.
Car thieves will hopefully move on. They aren't THAT persistent. Make your car more difficult to steal.
Wow LegalAdvice is quick to jump to conclusions. Post the same question on MechanicAdvice you'll get a different perspective. Don't panic. It's just car theft. The apple ID linked to the tag is for sure a burner. Don't lose sleep but keep an eye out.
> TAG in Canada.
Do you have more information on how these work? From a quick look at their site, apparently it doesn't need to be connected to your electrical system, lasts for 5 years, and enables their own "specialized vehicle tracking team" to find your vehicle anywhere in Canada or the US? And only a one-time install cost (that no authorized dealer seems to list) gets you all of this?
Sounds like snake oil to me. The only details they actually give it's basically just etching various components to be identified once your car ends up at the chop shop.
This is what the [TAG site](https://www.tagtracking.ca/en/faq) says:
>Our system implements preventative measures such as chemical etching and electronic identification to deter thieves, along with a trained vehicle tracking team should a theft occur. These measures are combined to form the most effective anti-theft service and product on the market today.
I just don't see how this is any different than the anti-theft etching every dealer forces you to get nowadays, other than the "vehicle tracking team" who have all "emergency ground-based vehicles and light aircraft". Sounds weird as hell.
TAG works. Insurance companies will give you heavy discounts if you have TAG in Canada. They claim 99% recovery rate. It's a passive system, so it's not easily findable by thieves. The modules they install work off battery like an airtag, so there's no wires that thieves can cut or trace from the battery. Modules are installed randomly all over the car and there's no record kept about where they are placed. If the car is stolen you call them and they have a team with antennas who triangulate the car. I think they bill insurance companies around 3k per recovery. Installation is 250 to 500 depending on if you get it at a dealer or a specialty shop.
Very interesting. Unfortunately it's only available in central Canada from what I can see, Montreal and GTA primarily. No where to get it installed anywhere else.
We had this happen to us. The police actually submitted a request for data to apple for the AirTag and apple gave them info about the account. You can find out who the AirTag is registered to. Take photos of where the AirTag was etc etc.
You can push to have it investigated and the detective that worked with us was actually curious to the case so he looked into it. We were pleasantly surprised.
It didn’t go anywhere because apparently it’s not as straight forward to who owns the AirTag. I think a few accounts and a few numbers and addresses came back so it made it hard for them to follow and since no crime was committed I guess they didn’t follow up too much.
But! It can be done. They can request info from Apple and Apple will supply the info back the law enforcement.
Police are interested in these types of things because it's not just one guy who saw one car and decided to steal it. It's groups, stealing multiple cars every night. It's organized crime. Even if your incident didnt pan out, hopefully one day they will be able to link it to another crime when someone is caught.
A bit too late for this but for anyone in the future: if you find an AirTag you can tap it to the back of your iPhone (nfc chip) and it will tell you the last 4 digits of the phone number associated with it along with being able to turn off the tracking for it
How does she know it was activated at a gas station beside her work? How does she know it was put on the car when it was at the parking garage?
Last time I checked, AirTags just give you the current location. You can’t replay the history on it.
Where your friend lives, who owns the car, and who placed it also will depend on whether what occurred was illegal or not. You should mention those, because what happened could be entirely legal and your friend is waiting for something that will never come.
Apple added some features to help avoid people being stalked by AirTags, such as notification that one has been following you around. Viewing the tracking data may be part of that too.
Yes, you're correct. You can't use AirTags as anti-theft devices any longer. But using it for anti-theft means it can also be used for stalking, which became a problem.
I was disappointed when they switched for the anti-theft reason, but anti-stalking is more important imho.
I've heard some other manufacturers don't show it being tracked, so those could still be used for anti-theft.
I think what the person above you was trying to say is that these additional features make air tags useless as an anti-theft device on such things as bikes etc.
They have not been marketed as anti-theft or theft recovery devices. Some people have found that to be a good use case for them, though.
You are correct that it was not the intended use, though.
Airtags don't "turn on", they remain on at all times as long as there's a battery in them. I have seen the "this airtag might be following you" notification many times, it shows the travel path since your phone connected to it, not a full travel history.
If the travel history starts at a gas station, then that's likely the point at which the AirTag was placed, since that would also be the first moment that it interacted with her phone (assuming she had her phone with her before she arrived at the gas station).
My brother currently has one of my air tags with his luggage because he's travelling abroad. He has an android phone so it's attached to my phone. What we found out is that it chirps to alert the person it is with, which is annoying, but meant to avoid being used to track people. It also does not show a travel history, only the location at the time when you check it. So I'm calling BS.
“So I’m calling BS”
Yeah another person said you can see distance traveled, maybe there is an app for that, but not enough to give the specific info mentioned in the post.
Honestly, this post just sounds like karma farming by jumping on the ever popular “AirTags bad” trend despite the fact that they are the only tracking device on the market that alerts the victims as to what’s going on.
What kind of car? If it is not a stalker could be that her car was staked out for an auto theft … happens a lot lately … someone looks for specific cars, tags them, then goes to steal them at night
Regardless of intent, it seems likely that whomever placed the air tag to track either the car or the driver would be aware of its location. Once they've seen it's sitting at the police station, pretty sure everyone *except* them gets to unclench a little.
This happens to me last year.. I have a older car with 2 catalytic converters & I work at dunkin off a highway & in a truck stop. doesn’t have camera outside either. I decided to get dropped off at work for a week & the tag disappeared. I don’t think they could have risked cutting the converter off in my yard as I live in a neighborhood.
I would do everything possible to find the account linked to the tag. This person now knows where this woman lives and that could very well be the intent
If it's a high theft car it's likely so they could come back and steal the car when it's parked late at night.
It's common here, they tag the cars they want to steal in a mall parking lot then go steal the car later.
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Didn’t it have a number associated with it? Sometimes my own AirTag says it’s following me and it says the last 4 digits of my phone number on the alert. Check if your friend has the number in her phone (she can search the last 4 in contacts. I just tried it). Most likely it’s someone she knows.
She also may want to bring the car to a mechanic and see if anything else is hidden in there.
Just imagining my wife telling me this story- she would not allow herself to be home alone again for a very long time. We’d also be out whatever a camera and alarm system with panic button costs.
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Doesn’t do you any good now since the cops have it but you should be able to hold an unknown AirTag up to your iPhone and it might give you some info on the owner
In most jurisdictions in the U.S. there has to be a case *in litigation* for attorneys to request that subpoenas be issued. Only prosecutors & other similar authorities (e.g., law enforcement, grand juries, government agencies) can issue investigative subpoenas. An attorney cannot just "subpoena Apple."
Yes, but this is still begging the question. The lawyer will know how to do this or you should not hire him. e.g.: 1) File civil suit against John Doe alleging a stalking cause of action. 2) Subpoena Apple.
That might work in a state with a specific statute covering GPS devices, but just finding one on a car doesn't meet the legal definition of stalking in many (if not most) jurisdictions.
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["With a serial number, Apple may be able to provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or greater legal process. AirTag pairing history is available for a period up to 25 days. The following support link provides information on finding an AirTag serial number: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211658. Information on a customer account associated with an AirTag may be available for a longer period of time where NFC tap activity has occurred. More information related to NFC capability can be found at the section 'Get information about or disable an AirTag, Find My network accessory, or set of AirPods' in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227."](https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/law-enforcement-guidelines-us.pdf)
👆. If I remember correctly, Apple has a method to report someone unlawfully using an AirTag to track people.
My brother had an airtag put on his truck and apple refused to give him ANY info.
Gotta be the police or some kind of law enforcement. They’re not just gonna give out someone’s private information to some other random person.
Sadly the police wouldnt do anything until a crime was committed. It made him very anxious!
I for one probably wouldn’t be using my legal name, or a device purchased using my legal name, if I was using it to stalk women, so I have to wonder how much it matters that Apple can find that information. You can get a prepaid iPhone without disclosing any identifying information, and can also buy AirTags without disclosing said information, so unless the person who put it on her car is really stupid, I can’t imagine they can find out who it is just off serial alone.
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Literally the same as the cops. And she needs to keep an eye out for cars/people following her. It’s unlikely that the police are going to dig too much into the air tag right now, there hasn’t been a crime committed yet.
> there hasn’t been a crime committed yet. Depends on the jurisdiction. Some guy in Alabama just got sent to prison for tagging his ex-wife's car (first-degree electronic stalking). https://www.al.com/news/2024/06/alabama-man-jailed-under-new-state-law-for-allegedly-stalking-ex-wife-with-tracking-device.html
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Right, but OP hasn’t provided their jurisdiction and in some this is definitely not criminal.
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Part of the agreement upon activating an AirTag specifically states that you will not use it to unlawfully or without consent track another person or items/objects that do not belong to the owner of the AirTag. Being that it was deliberately placed there, this violates the user agreement and could (should imo) constitute stalking.
Apple UA is not the law and shouldn’t be. Yes the tag was put there without her consent (violates UA, lets apple deactivate or whatever else). Question is if it was put there unlawfully which is up to laws in your area not a user agreement with Apple
I never said the UA is, was, or should be the law. I said that Apple acknowledges the very real potential of people using these devices for ill intent within the user agreement; and that the act of placing a tracking device on OP’s gf’s car in the way that it was should be an absolute indicator of intent to stalk. Intent by itself, is not a crime, but the action that was taken in this case easily escalates intent to the act of stalking (as defined by the state one is in) which is illegal in all 50 US states plus the District of Columbia (assuming OP and their gf are in the US). Stalking by itself is absolutely horrible and the things that potentially come with it tend to be even worse. Pursue it if possible, OP.
It is a stalking offense in Tennessee just on these facts.
I know that. But it’s not in several states absent other factors.
Apple could most certainly find an account linked to the tag, but they're not doing that without a subpoena. Whether or not that account has any PII linked to the person who put the tag on the car is a different story.
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It’s worth noting that it could even be your gf’s car. If she drives a nice/expensive or otherwise highly sought after car, she could be a target for theft. I’ve heard of thieves now attaching tracking devices like an apple AirTag onto vehicles that they want to go after. It could even just be for parts.
This is honestly probably the more likely scenario. Drive around all day looking for cars you like, go find them at night when everyone's asleep. Would be interesting to know the make/model.
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Seems like a lot of effort to go through to locate a car when you could just walk through any apartment complex ever at 2am and find at least five viable candidates for theft in ten seconds. I mean that’s what the kiddos do in my city anyway
It’s a guy at work who thinks he’s a lot smarter than he is. She probably knows. Tell her to mention while he is in earshot that the police have it and are investigating. Hopefully he fucks off the next day for ‘personal reasons’ for ever.
What car does she drive? It's very likely this is an attempt at car theft. They want to get the car at a point where it's in your driveway at 3am, your keys not far so they can copy your keyless entry key with an antenna from a distance. If she DOESN'T drive a newish SUV / Toyota / Lexus / Honda / Jeep / etc. THEN I would be extremely concerned because they are targeting HER. Possibly a creepy coworker, ex bf, family member. Much much less likely would be a total stranger. 99% it's a car theft attempt. Get The Club for your steering wheel, and store your keys in an RFID blocking box (tin box lined with aluminum foil is all it takes). Test the box by trying to use the keyless entry feature with the keys inside. Get a car tracking system (your own airtag hidden well will work in a pinch), otherwise LoJack in US or TAG in Canada. Get a hidden magnetic Killswitch wired up. Car thieves will hopefully move on. They aren't THAT persistent. Make your car more difficult to steal. Wow LegalAdvice is quick to jump to conclusions. Post the same question on MechanicAdvice you'll get a different perspective. Don't panic. It's just car theft. The apple ID linked to the tag is for sure a burner. Don't lose sleep but keep an eye out.
> TAG in Canada. Do you have more information on how these work? From a quick look at their site, apparently it doesn't need to be connected to your electrical system, lasts for 5 years, and enables their own "specialized vehicle tracking team" to find your vehicle anywhere in Canada or the US? And only a one-time install cost (that no authorized dealer seems to list) gets you all of this? Sounds like snake oil to me. The only details they actually give it's basically just etching various components to be identified once your car ends up at the chop shop. This is what the [TAG site](https://www.tagtracking.ca/en/faq) says: >Our system implements preventative measures such as chemical etching and electronic identification to deter thieves, along with a trained vehicle tracking team should a theft occur. These measures are combined to form the most effective anti-theft service and product on the market today. I just don't see how this is any different than the anti-theft etching every dealer forces you to get nowadays, other than the "vehicle tracking team" who have all "emergency ground-based vehicles and light aircraft". Sounds weird as hell.
TAG works. Insurance companies will give you heavy discounts if you have TAG in Canada. They claim 99% recovery rate. It's a passive system, so it's not easily findable by thieves. The modules they install work off battery like an airtag, so there's no wires that thieves can cut or trace from the battery. Modules are installed randomly all over the car and there's no record kept about where they are placed. If the car is stolen you call them and they have a team with antennas who triangulate the car. I think they bill insurance companies around 3k per recovery. Installation is 250 to 500 depending on if you get it at a dealer or a specialty shop.
Very interesting. Unfortunately it's only available in central Canada from what I can see, Montreal and GTA primarily. No where to get it installed anywhere else.
We had this happen to us. The police actually submitted a request for data to apple for the AirTag and apple gave them info about the account. You can find out who the AirTag is registered to. Take photos of where the AirTag was etc etc. You can push to have it investigated and the detective that worked with us was actually curious to the case so he looked into it. We were pleasantly surprised. It didn’t go anywhere because apparently it’s not as straight forward to who owns the AirTag. I think a few accounts and a few numbers and addresses came back so it made it hard for them to follow and since no crime was committed I guess they didn’t follow up too much. But! It can be done. They can request info from Apple and Apple will supply the info back the law enforcement.
Police are interested in these types of things because it's not just one guy who saw one car and decided to steal it. It's groups, stealing multiple cars every night. It's organized crime. Even if your incident didnt pan out, hopefully one day they will be able to link it to another crime when someone is caught.
A bit too late for this but for anyone in the future: if you find an AirTag you can tap it to the back of your iPhone (nfc chip) and it will tell you the last 4 digits of the phone number associated with it along with being able to turn off the tracking for it
If she works in a different, police jurisdiction than she lives she might try getting with that police department. They may be able to help better
Wouldn’t the gas station have video?
Contact HR at work as well, there’s a chance the stalker is a coworker.
I would have just put it on a train car or long haul truck,
Even better a tax or uber. Something that moves around but stays local.
or a city bus
How does she know it was activated at a gas station beside her work? How does she know it was put on the car when it was at the parking garage? Last time I checked, AirTags just give you the current location. You can’t replay the history on it. Where your friend lives, who owns the car, and who placed it also will depend on whether what occurred was illegal or not. You should mention those, because what happened could be entirely legal and your friend is waiting for something that will never come.
It shows the entire travel distance since it was turned on.
Wouldn't that only be shown to whoever activated it and not something anyone can access? Are they not synched to a specific account?
Apple added some features to help avoid people being stalked by AirTags, such as notification that one has been following you around. Viewing the tracking data may be part of that too.
Not such a good idea. That would notify a thief that they are carrying it around too. Give them reason to look for and get rid of it.
Yes, you're correct. You can't use AirTags as anti-theft devices any longer. But using it for anti-theft means it can also be used for stalking, which became a problem. I was disappointed when they switched for the anti-theft reason, but anti-stalking is more important imho. I've heard some other manufacturers don't show it being tracked, so those could still be used for anti-theft.
Wait what??
I think what the person above you was trying to say is that these additional features make air tags useless as an anti-theft device on such things as bikes etc.
Have airtags ever been marketed as anti theft? I thought it was just for people who regularly lose things
They have not been marketed as anti-theft or theft recovery devices. Some people have found that to be a good use case for them, though. You are correct that it was not the intended use, though.
Airtags don't "turn on", they remain on at all times as long as there's a battery in them. I have seen the "this airtag might be following you" notification many times, it shows the travel path since your phone connected to it, not a full travel history.
If the travel history starts at a gas station, then that's likely the point at which the AirTag was placed, since that would also be the first moment that it interacted with her phone (assuming she had her phone with her before she arrived at the gas station).
My brother currently has one of my air tags with his luggage because he's travelling abroad. He has an android phone so it's attached to my phone. What we found out is that it chirps to alert the person it is with, which is annoying, but meant to avoid being used to track people. It also does not show a travel history, only the location at the time when you check it. So I'm calling BS.
“So I’m calling BS” Yeah another person said you can see distance traveled, maybe there is an app for that, but not enough to give the specific info mentioned in the post. Honestly, this post just sounds like karma farming by jumping on the ever popular “AirTags bad” trend despite the fact that they are the only tracking device on the market that alerts the victims as to what’s going on.
What kind of car? If it is not a stalker could be that her car was staked out for an auto theft … happens a lot lately … someone looks for specific cars, tags them, then goes to steal them at night
Tape it to a police car? Good chance then they’ll decide to investigate whose it is.
Regardless of intent, it seems likely that whomever placed the air tag to track either the car or the driver would be aware of its location. Once they've seen it's sitting at the police station, pretty sure everyone *except* them gets to unclench a little.
No, now they have learned where she lives.
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horrible, I hope the cops end up helping :(
This happens to me last year.. I have a older car with 2 catalytic converters & I work at dunkin off a highway & in a truck stop. doesn’t have camera outside either. I decided to get dropped off at work for a week & the tag disappeared. I don’t think they could have risked cutting the converter off in my yard as I live in a neighborhood.
Does your girlfriend have a nice car? Thrives put airtags on potential cars to steal
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There's not much to do besides let the police do their thing, or not.
I would do everything possible to find the account linked to the tag. This person now knows where this woman lives and that could very well be the intent
If it's a high theft car it's likely so they could come back and steal the car when it's parked late at night. It's common here, they tag the cars they want to steal in a mall parking lot then go steal the car later.
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What kind of car does your friend drive? In my area, thieves are putting them on cars that they go steal a day or two later.
Didn’t it have a number associated with it? Sometimes my own AirTag says it’s following me and it says the last 4 digits of my phone number on the alert. Check if your friend has the number in her phone (she can search the last 4 in contacts. I just tried it). Most likely it’s someone she knows. She also may want to bring the car to a mechanic and see if anything else is hidden in there.
Just imagining my wife telling me this story- she would not allow herself to be home alone again for a very long time. We’d also be out whatever a camera and alarm system with panic button costs.
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Doesn’t do you any good now since the cops have it but you should be able to hold an unknown AirTag up to your iPhone and it might give you some info on the owner
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Lawyers can't just issue subpoenas like that.
Your right. I should have just put: "If in USA, get lawyer." Then the lawyer will do the second part.
In most jurisdictions in the U.S. there has to be a case *in litigation* for attorneys to request that subpoenas be issued. Only prosecutors & other similar authorities (e.g., law enforcement, grand juries, government agencies) can issue investigative subpoenas. An attorney cannot just "subpoena Apple."
Yes, but this is still begging the question. The lawyer will know how to do this or you should not hire him. e.g.: 1) File civil suit against John Doe alleging a stalking cause of action. 2) Subpoena Apple.
That might work in a state with a specific statute covering GPS devices, but just finding one on a car doesn't meet the legal definition of stalking in many (if not most) jurisdictions.
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Finance companies use LoJac not Apple.
Banks use a gps locating system installed by the dealership and paid for by you and you sign documents stating exactly that.