Apple revealed its App Store prevented more than $2 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2024 alone, contributing to over $9 billion in blocked fraudulent activity across the past five years. But as the App Store blocks fraud, the figures highlight the tech giant’s ongoing battle against increasingly sophisticated bad actors attempting to exploit users and developers on its platform.
The massive fraud prevention effort protects the App Store’s 813 million weekly visitors across 175 regions worldwide. Since its 2008 launch, Apple’s marketplace has grown into one of the world’s most trusted digital storefronts, Apple said. But maintaining that reputation requires constant vigilance against evolving threats ranging from data theft apps to payment scams.
App Store blocks fraud: Prevention catches $9 billion in bad transactions in 5 years
As it reports annually, Apple said its fraud detection systems terminated more than 146,000 developer accounts in 2024 over fraud concerns, while rejecting an additional 139,000 developer enrollment attempts before malicious actors could even submit apps to the store. The company also blocked over 711 million customer account creations and deactivated nearly 129 million existing customer accounts last year. These actions prevented fake accounts from manipulating app ratings, reviews and search rankings that could mislead genuine users.
Beyond the official App Store, Apple detected and blocked more than 10,000 illegitimate apps on pirate storefronts in 2024. Those include malware, pornography, gambling apps and stolen versions of legitimate apps. The company said it also stopped nearly 4.6 million attempts to install apps distributed outside authorized channels in just the past month.
App review catches millions of problematic submissions
Photo: Apple
Apple’s App Review team examines nearly 150,000 app submissions weekly, with human reviewers and automated systems working together to catch potentially harmful software. Out of 7.7 million submissions reviewed in 2024, more than 1.9 million were rejected for failing to meet Apple’s security, reliability and user experience standards.
The review process removed over 37,000 apps for fraudulent activity, while rejecting more than 43,000 submissions containing hidden features designed to bypass initial screening. Apple also blocked over 320,000 submissions that copied other apps, contained spam, or attempted to mislead users through deceptive practices.
Privacy violations resulted in 400,000 app rejections, as Apple continues enforcing strict rules against apps that access personal data without proper user consent. Another 17,000 apps were removed for “bait-and-switch” tactics, where seemingly innocent apps concealed risky functionality.
App Store blocks fraud: Fighting fake reviews and payment fraud
Photo: Apple
Apple processed more than 1.2 billion ratings and reviews in 2024, removing more than 143 million fraudulent entries designed to artificially boost app rankings. The company also removed over 7,400 apps from trending charts and nearly 9,500 deceptive apps from search results, helping legitimate developers compete on merit rather than manipulation.
Payment security remains a top priority, with Apple identifying nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards and banning over 1.6 million accounts from future transactions. The company’s Apple Pay system protects users by never storing actual card numbers on devices or servers, while developers never receive customer payment information directly.
Over 420,000 apps now use Apple’s secure payment technologies, including Apple Pay and StoreKit. They provide built-in fraud protection, purchase management tools and end-to-end encryption for all transactions.
Apple says it will continue investing in fraud prevention measures while providing users with resources to report suspected scams and stay safe while browsing and purchasing apps. You can learn more about staying safe on the App Store at support.apple.com/en-us/122712.
Source: Apple
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
