Are key holders given at petrol stations really trackers to follow you home?

A social media rumour is claiming that a free key holder is being given away for free as a promotion but this is really just a scam since it is actually a “detector” to follow you home.

The rumour uses the below image to circulate and has been spreading prolifically on both Twitter and Facebook. See the example below.

This is a key holder given for free at petrol stations by people doing promotions or at shopping centers. Do no accept just throw it away. Its a detector to follw u home!! .Pls share with family and friends

The rumour is false, and is just the latest reincarnation of a decades old hoax that has long been asserting that various shops and gas stations across the planet have been surreptitiously handing out tracking devices disguised as promotional key rings.

In fact an earlier version read along the lines of –

URGENT PLEASE REPOST people at gas stations giving out key chains.. but the key chains have tracking devices to track u too ur house so they can rob u blind.. please pass this on too everyone on ur friends list please.. it could be ur mother or father that will accept one of them from these ……people!!!!!

Previous versions have attributed the so called warnings as coming from various police forces across the world including Harris County in Texas. Other versions have claimed this type of crime was happening in Nairobi.

Syndicates made up of Ghanaians & Nigerians are giving free key-rings at petrol stations in Nairobi. Don’t accept them as the key rings have a tracking device which allows them to follow you. Forward this alert to friends and family. Folks, a friend alerted me on the above and indicated that these guys just select their seemingly well-to-do potential victims and play the trick.

Despite the prolific nature of many of these rumours, they’ve never turned out to be true. Most variants of this hoax – like the one above – fail to mention any location where this crime is allegedly occurring, or an reputable link to a source such as a legitimate police warning.

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The original image in our article actually shows a Bluetooth key locator that consumers use to locate their keys by using a smartphone app to initiate a bleeping from the locator (Available on Amazon for those who have a habit of losing keys.) It is not – and cannot be – used to track people to their homes.

The hoax has also previously been distributed with other images supposedly depicting the offending key rings, like the image below. Again, this was just an innocuous key ring, and nothing to do with such a crime like as described above.

This hoax has been spreading for years, and with the many different variants it has inspired, it certainly earns itself the reputation of bona fide urban legend. It is a classic reminder as to why researching dubious warnings like this on the Internet is so important.