Apple blocked over $11 billion in App Store fraud in 6 years

Apple has disclosed that it has successfully blocked over $11 billion in fraudulent transactions within the App Store over the past six years, including more than $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions during 2025 alone.

In a recent press release, the technology leader reported that more than 2 million problematic app submissions were rejected last year, in addition to over 1.1 billion fraudulent account creations.

Moreover, Apple took significant measures against fraud by terminating 193,000 developer accounts deemed fraudulent, rejecting more than 138,000 developer enrollments, and deactivating an additional 40.4 million customer accounts suspected of fraud and abuse.

The company also prevented the use of over 5.4 million stolen credit cards and banned nearly 2 million user accounts last year.

These statistics highlight a substantial increase compared to prior years; in 2024, Apple blocked over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, identified nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards, and barred over 1.6 million accounts from further transactions.

Apple emphasized its commitment to security by stating, "Apple utilizes both human review and advanced technology to identify and stop the use of stolen financial information." The company employs machine learning to develop robust models that enhance fraud detection and swiftly assess new deceptive methods. These technologies also facilitate a comprehensive view of fraudulent behavior across customer accounts, devices, and payment methods.

In 2025, Apple's App Review team assessed over 9.1 million app submissions, an increase from 7.7 million in the previous year. The team has also rejected over 443,000 submissions for privacy violations, more than 371,000 for being misleading or copycat apps, and over 22,000 for containing hidden or undocumented features.

In terms of fraud discovery, nearly 59,000 apps were removed from the App Store last year due to bait-and-switch tactics, a figure that is almost three times the 17,000 apps removed in 2024.

Furthermore, the company processed over 1.3 billion ratings and reviews in 2025, blocking nearly 195 million fraudulent app reviews and ratings.

Apple also suppressed nearly 7,800 deceptive apps from appearing in search results and barred 11,500 from the App Store charts. Additionally, it detected and blocked 28,000 illegitimate apps on pirate storefronts.

Currently, Apple reports that the App Store attracts more than 850 million weekly visitors across 175 storefronts globally. The company encourages customers who notice any suspicious activity regarding apps downloaded from the App Store to report it immediately at reportaproblem.apple.com.