A DRIVER thought he’d gotten lucky when he tracked his stolen Mercedes to a garage just round the corner from a police station – but now claims cops are refusing to look for it.
The 45-year-old installed an AirTag in his luxury £50,000 car in case he ever forgot where he’d parked it.
A motorist was left fuming after his Mercedes was stolen[/caption]
But the husband and wife were annoyed that police could not retrieve the vehicle despite knowing the location[/caption]
But when the white Mercedes GLS was stolen from his home in Acton, west London, in the early hours of Wednesday October 16, he instead used it to trace the thieves’ movements.
The dad-of-three, who works at a consulting firm, watched as his car was left in a park for seven hours.
He claims it was then moved to a garage in east London – just a five-minute drive from Grays Police Station.
The dad believes that criminals are disassembling the car in order to sell its parts.
Now, he says that a police officer has completed a cursory check of the area but failed to provide further assistance.
Correspondence seen by The Sun shows how the force said they could see no sign of the car in the location provided.
Speaking to The Sun, the fuming car owner said: “The system is completely broken. Nobody cares. The police, they don’t care. Even when they are told where the stolen car is.
“The thieves can do whatever they want because no one is going to do anything about it.
“It’s ridiculous, there’s a police station literally five minutes drive from the garage.”
Meanwhile, his wife has since gone to look for the car on her own while he travels for business.
He added: “My wife is Ukrainian, that’s why she’s so brave. I’ve been trying to convince her not to go there.
“She’s going to see possibly a criminal organisation on her own because no one cares.
“What’s happening is that all these police forces are throwing the ball between themselves.”
His wife told us how she was already left frightened after their neighbour’s car was stolen about a week ago.
She said: “At this moment I am upset with the car being stolen but also how the police works and how they treated me.
“I thinks thieves know about this and they take advantage of it.”
On the same Wednesday the car was stolen, the mum claims that she went to Grays Police station which is nearby where the airtag was traced.
But she alleges that after explaining herself, they said it was not their jurisdiction and suggested she “go herself”.
She says they also told her: “We don’t have officers available, this is not an emergency.”
After, calling multiple police forces the mum says she went to the garage despite being “frightened and scared of what might happen”.
She said: “When I went inside I knew looking for this airtag would be so hard, like finding a needle in a haystack.
“There was a place you can take cars apart, repaint it. There is another place with disassembled cars that showed the air tag but it was filled with all sorts of parts like doors, wheels and engines.”
She claims that despite providing information and the exact location, cops keep asking her to get the air tag myself.
The mum added: “The Air tag has just been lying there and I don’t think there will be any fingerprints or anything now.
“All this effort and time is just wasted.”
She continued: “I am really feeling scared, this happened in front of my home, metres from my bedroom.
“What will stop another person from doing this?
“They could come into my house, steal my TV, valuables.”
Police have promised her that they will try push it and send it to investigation units for stolen cars but she has not heard anything back.
The mum said she has spoken to the case investigator on Monday in the hopes of securing a warrant, but has not had a response yet.
The family purchased the Mercedes in January 2022.
The Met Police and Essex Police have been contacted for comment by The Sun.
How do AirTags work?
AIRTAGS let you easily track things such as your keys, wallet, purse, backpack and more.
However, some people have capitalised on its tracking capabilities to engage in unethical activities.
An AirTag is a tiny device created by Apple to be attached to objects such as keys or luggage, which can be tracked using an iPhone.
The AirTag can only work with Apple’s Find My app, which is already available for finding a lost iPad, Apple Watch, or iPhone.
According to the official Apple website, a feature called Precision Finding can show you the exact distance and direction to locate your lost item that has been attached to the AirTag.
Despite the usefulness of these AirTags, media reports have warned users of how criminals are misusing this technology in clandestine ways.
Since the AirTag is usually put in a bag or attached to an object, PCMag.com recommends that you regularly check your bags, purses, and luggage.
You can also check behind the license plate of your car, the edge of your windshield, below the hood of your car, and the wheel wells on your car or bike to locate any AirTag used for tracking.
Once hidden on the car, thieves then track the targeted vehicles to the victim’s residence, where they are stolen from the driveway.
The thieves reportedly use a screwdriver to break into the car while not setting off alarms.
If an AirTag registered to someone else is moving with you consistently, your iPhone will warn you.
It will alert you if someone has placed an AirTag on your person without your knowledge.
Also if an AirTag has been separated from its owner for a while, it will begin making an alert sound.
Apple has built an app for Android to help you uncover rogue AirTag trackers.
The app is called Tracker Detect.
