Probably not but with the cost of an AIS and a Garmin, hell, a stolen AIS and a Garmiin, the thugs (they're not pirates) know where you are and most cruisers like to tell everyone their position. It's like, "hey, there's a 40 foot sailboat passing buy, right there, that should have some stuff aboard. lets get it."

Just would be interesting to know if the last two cruisers that were stopped and boarded by thugs had an AIS transponder.