- Recovering a $575,000 Ferrari seemed like a difficult task except for one detail: in its glove compartment, it had a “Trojan horse” against the thieves.
- Apple’s Find My feature helped locate the car and arrest the thieves.
Supercars are a tempting prize for thieves, which is why their owners often install GPS tracking systems. However, there are alternative methods to locate a stolen (or even forgotten) Ferrari. The owner of a 2023 Ferrari 812 GTS discovered one of the most original: a pair of forgotten AirPods in his car.
Local news station WFSB reported on a millionaire in Greenwich, Connecticut, who reported the theft of his Ferrari 812 GTS, valued at $575,000. The chances of recovering the car increased when the owner mentioned to the police that he believed he had left his Apple AirPods in the car’s glove compartment.
This gave him an additional tool to help locate his car, as the AirPods were linked to his Apple account. Apple’s Find My feature could track the AirPods on a map and, with some luck, also track the Ferrari.
A Trojan Horse in the Glove Compartment
Find My allows users to locate devices linked to their account on a map with great precision, using Apple’s device network even when the stolen device is out of Bluetooth range. It only requires someone with an Apple device to pass near the AirPods.
Police investigated the location indicated by the Apple tracking app, and Find My led them to a gas station in Waterbury, a nearby town.
There, officers caught the suspected thieves, who were already known to the local police. The suspects rammed the Ferrari into a patrol car during their escape attempt and then tried to flee on foot. Ironically, in their frantic escape, one of the thieves left behind their iPhone in the stolen Ferrari.
The police didn’t need Apple’s tracking technology to catch the two thieves, as they were arrested thanks to the contents of the iPhone left in the Ferrari.
Luckily, the police didn’t have to initiate a high-speed chase, as the Ferrari is equipped with a 6.5-liter V12 engine that generates 800 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds.
This isn’t the first time Apple’s tracking technology has helped recover a stolen car. In late 2023, Saamer Mansoor, a Canadian whose car had been stolen, was able to recover it thanks to an AirTag he had hidden inside the vehicle. The small device helped him locate and retrieve his stolen car, as reported by local media outlet CTV News.
