People Selling Silent Custom AirTags On eBay And Etsy

Apple’s AirTags are perfect for finding easily misplaced items. But because they can also be abused for stalking, shady sellers with manipulated AirTags are now cashing in on Ebay, Etsy, and other platforms. The improper use of the tiny trackers for monitoring people is a thorn in Apple’s side – which is why the company has done a lot since the AirTags launched to make it more difficult to use an AirTag for espionage purposes undetected. The AirTags, among other things, draw attention with a sound as soon as they are no longer near the iPhone they are connected to for a certain period of time. This makes them recognizable to people who have just been smuggled in with the small device.

This is now causing breezy traders to sit up and take note: Merchants have recently been offering so-called “Silent AirTags” through platforms such as Etsy or Ebay (via MacRumors). The small internal speaker was turned off for them so that an AirTag isn’t discovered just by its beep.

Silent AirTags mean a lot of money

Manipulating it is pretty easy – if you start in the right place, you can damage the speaker coil so it simply can’t make any sound anymore. These “Silent AirTags” then sell for at least double the price and are advertised as being particularly practical for use on a dog’s or cat’s collar, as otherwise the animals could be “disturbed” by the potential noise.

Other sellers like to advertise the manipulation as a special feature so that the trackers are not discovered in the event of theft and, for example, can continue to lead the police to the loot. More importantly, though, the speaker manipulation undermines Apple’s anti-stalking security feature, and that should be the main reason for the carriers. Some sellers also wrote it that way, albeit indirectly.