A contractor based in Calgary has found a new way to confound building material thieves – using tech meant to locate car or house keys.
Pierre Dumont, who owns Pierrefect Contracting, said that a shortage of building materials in Calgary has contributed to a rise in building material thefts. He also told CBC News that materials have been stolen from him twice within a two-week period this summer.
"We don't get paid enough to supply the material twice," commented Dumont. "It's hurting us quite bad."
Dumont eventually got creative and purchased several of Apple’s AirTags – a proprietary tracking device marketed by Apple as a means of locating users’ lost keys or personal belongings, utilizing Bluetooth signals to report their locations to an Apple device. Dumont then hid the AirTags among packages of siding and trim.
On August 10, Dumont was on his way to work when he noticed that on his phone, three of the tags’ locations were at a house near Falconridge, which was nowhere near his current job site. He then called his co-worker to meet him with a trailer at the location specified by the tracker.
When they knocked on the door of the address specified, the person inside said that their neighbor owned a siding company.
"We went there, then I pressed [the button] to locate my AirTag, and it was pointing right to the guy's backyard," Dumont told CBC News. "Then I just look over the fence: all my product."
Dumont recorded the entire incident, posting the video on social media later. He also contacted Calgary police to handle the situation.
CBC News reached out to the police, who have confirmed that officers were dispatched that day to an address in Castleridge following a report of stolen property.
"Upon arrival, police spoke with a man who claimed to be the rightful owner, as well as a man who was believed to have transported the property to the residence," a police representative stated.
Dumont has since taken back the stolen materials back to his job site, and said that he will continue to use AirTags to track of his materials. He has also advised anyone using contractors to do their research before hiring.
"There's some bad contractors that just decide to steal products instead of buying it,” he said.
