A young woman has revealed how she managed to track down her stolen AirPods and confront the thief by using an app.
Alexandra Parmenter, 30, noticed the costly earbuds were missing from her bag while shopping at a charity store in Hawthorn, in Melbourne’s east, earlier this year.
Ms Parmenter used the Find My app, a tracking software that is used to locate lost Apple items, to trace the AirPods.
She told Daily Mail Australia she has ever experienced criminal theft before while she’s been out shopping.
‘This year it’s happened to me twice in the space of two months,’ Ms Parmenter said.
She said she noticed the item was moving on the app for around 20 minutes and narrowed the location down to several townhouses in the area.
‘I could tell that the AirPods were there so I rang all of the doorbells for probably five to 10 minutes straight,’ Ms Parmenter told Yahoo.
The act prompted concern from dozens of neighbours as a determined Ms Parmenter desperately tried to find her AirPods.
Ms Parmenter (pictured) realised her AirPods were missing when she noticed the costly earbuds were no longer in her wallet
A man then came out of one of the apartments and said he had the earpieces before he handed them over.
The AirPods were badly damaged and the man said he found them like that.
‘Even though they have bite marks, they still work, still charge (although the case doesn’t close properly) and I use them every day,’ Ms Parmenter said.
Ms Parmenter said she took matters into her own hands and said police were not very helpful after her Prada wallet was stolen in a separate incident.
ReadyTechGo co-founder and tech expert Lisa Hu urged people to not to risk their safety by using the Find My app.
Ms Hu said using the tracking information from the app is not always a good idea as it could lead to potentially dangerous confrontations with strangers.
‘If it were me I would not be going to someone’s home, or I would at least bring a friend with me,’ Ms Hu said.
A spokeswoman from Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia people are urged to contact Triple Zero to avoid the situation escalating.
‘Our message is clear – your safety and the safety of your family is our number one priority,’ the spokeswoman said .
‘Police have extensive training which equips them with the skills and resources needed to respond to safety issues’.
Ms Parmenter came face-to-face with the alleged thief after she used the Find My app, a tracking software that is used to locate lost Apple items, to trace the AirPods (stock image)
Ms Parmenter admitted her actions were reckless and advised others not to do the same thing.
She said she didn’t consider the potential harm as she thought she would just go up to the person and ask for her Airpods back.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk