A West Coast man secreted an Apple AirTag in his baggage, which helped police find it when it was stolen, but not soon enough to prevent one of the bad actors from wearing the man’s clothes!
On August 22, 2025 Daniel Scott flew into Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from Salt Lake City (insert “and boy were his arms tired” joke here). Once his flight landed, he disembarked and walked to baggage claim, only to find that his suitcase was nowhere to be found.
Airport staff joined in the search but his luggage was definitely lost. Suddenly, he received an alert from the AirTag Scott had previously placed inside his luggage.
While tracking the luggage, he watched as it left the airport and headed to the airport’s rideshare lot. It didn’t take long for Scott to react. “I immediately started sprinting to the Uber lot,” he told NBC Los Angeles.
As he sped to the rideshare lot, The signal headed across the street and beyond. By this time, he realizes that his luggage had been stolen.
The dot in the app stopped approximately a half mile down the road, ending up in an abandoned build in the Sepulveda Boulevard and 98th Street area.
Scot”s partner called the police, who upon arriving shined their powerful flashlights into the building, showing several individuals lined up at the window. One of the thieves had already removed clothing items from Scott’s luggage and was wearing a shit, a pair of pants, and a pair of shoes that belonged to Scott.
Once police had cleared the scene, Scott was able to take a look at what was left of his belongings. His bag had been sliced open, and the contents of the bag had been strewn across multiple rooms.
While Scott’s luggage was ruined, he was able to recover around 90% of his belongings. He says if it hadn’t been for the AirTag, it might have been a total loss. “It just gave me a fighting chance to find my luggage and retrieve it. Craziest part of the trip – it was insane, absolutely.”
