Can You Really Mail Yourself an AirTag to Catch Mail Thieves? Maybe!

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You may've already heard the story about a woman who decided to tackle her repeated mail theft problem with an innovative, personalized solution: She sent herself an Apple AirTag in the mail, and once the package was stolen, she tracked the thieves to their hideout. It's not an urban myth. It happened this month and involved a Santa Barbara County, California, woman who was having packages stolen from her post office box. The ploy led to the arrest of two suspects, who appear to have been robbing more than a dozen people.

If you've been struggling with mail theft (or bike theft, etc.), a light bulb may've just gone off above your head. But though we like high-tech solutions to our problems, there's a lot more going on here than just, "Mail yourself an AirTag and catch your thief." If you want to invest in this tracking strategy to try to catch a porch pirate or similar offender, it takes a lot of elements all working together. Let's go over them.

Buying an AirTag (that you probably won't get back)

AirTags aren't the most expensive tracker around, but they're still an investment. You can find a pack of four for around $100. However, if you really want one to get stolen by a package thief, you're not likely to get it back. Even if the package is successfully tracked, the AirTag is likely to be collected as evidence and from there, it can easily get lost in the legal system. So there are some upfront costs (in addition to shipping fees).

Mailing your AirTag and hoping to get lucky

You've got a fully charged AirTag, you have a package that's seductively weighted to appeal to thieves, and you've paid the shipping costs to send that package to your P.O. box or porch. Now you have to get lucky, and that could take time.

There's no guarantee your package will get stolen right away. You may have to wait days for something to happen. If thieves are no longer targeting your area, it may not work at all. In some cases, you may need to send the packages through the mail more than once. In other words, this strategy needs some patience.

Relying on more-populated areas

AirTags send information about their precise location by pinging Bluetooth signals off any nearby compatible devices -- aka, any active iPhones or iPads around. If there aren't any active, mobile Apple devices around, then an AirTag doesn't work very well.

So, if thieves are Android fans and don't live near other people, you may not be able to track down their destination at all. In the case above, this ploy worked because the suspects were living in a home in the populous city of Santa Maria, California, with enough Apple devices around to make triangulation easy. That wouldn't work with more-remote thieves. A more expensive GPS tracker may do the job, but that's a bigger investment.

Contacting police, and having them listen

Here's another tricky part: The Santa Barbara County case worked only because the woman contacted the local sheriff's department, explained how she'd tracked the package and provided all the necessary information. Then the sheriff's department took action. But that doesn't always happen.

Not many law enforcement departments have a team dedicated to mail theft, or the resources to send people out to explore a tracked location. They may be unlikely to listen to a lone victim who engineered their own plot. Most police departments have only one trick to stop package theft: patrolling the neighborhood a few times. And you can find plenty of stories on Reddit about police who don't take any action over stolen mail.

So, a lot depends on what your local law enforcement contacts decide to do, and that's out of your hands. The best you can do is put together a clear record of evidence (including photos and screenshots) as you create, send and track the package, as well as evidence about the other mail you've had stolen. We don't advise you visiting the thieves' location yourself.

Hoping for a successful investigation

Finally, the tracked location has to yield results, and that often requires lazy thieves. An active theft ring would quickly go through packages, seize any valuables and toss the rest well away from where they live, including your AirTag. Or they might dump everything in bulk on a local black market before police can discover their location. Once again, luck needs to be on your side if you expect any arrests to be made.

So, yes, you can certainly try mailing yourself an AirTag to deal with your theft problem, but it takes luck and work, plus a lot of cooperation from local law enforcement. Keep that in mind before you start licking your stamps.

For other tips on keeping your home safe, check out ways to deter burglars, how burglars choose homes in the first place, the best spots to put security cameras and the best ways to stop porch pirates.