Apple significantly ramped up its App Store fraud prevention efforts in 2024, stopping more than $2 billion in attempted fraudulent transactions. This milestone pushes the company’s five-year fraud prevention total to over $9 billion, underscoring the growing challenges of digital threats in the era of expanding mobile commerce.

Apple’s internal detection systems identified a spike in attempts to exploit the App Store, targeting both developers and users. The company blocked nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards from being used and permanently disabled over 1.6 million accounts linked to suspicious financial activity.

Figure 1. App Store Security.

Account-related fraud was a key focus area. Apple shut down more than 146,000 developer accounts in 2024 — a rise from 118,000 the previous year — and blocked 139,000 fraudulent attempts to gain developer access. Investigations revealed that many of these accounts were used to submit deceptive or harmful apps disguised as legitimate software. Figure 1 shows App Store Security.

Fraud didn’t stop at developers. Some user accounts were used to manipulate app reviews, distort search rankings, and undermine platform integrity [1]. Apple thwarted more than 711 million fake account creation attempts and banned 129 million user accounts deemed harmful or inauthentic.

In its effort to maintain trust, Apple also removed over 143 million fraudulent reviews from a total of 1.2 billion submitted. Thousands of misleading apps were taken down from charts and search results for violating policies around platform manipulation.

App submissions further illustrated the scope of the problem. Out of 7.7 million submissions in 2024, Apple rejected 1.9 million apps that failed to meet App Store standards. Deeper investigation into individual apps often uncovered larger networks of developers attempting to evade detection.

Bad actors also tried to bypass App Store policies by submitting apps with hidden or unauthorized features. Apple removed about 43,000 of these submissions last year. An additional 17,000 apps were taken down for employing bait-and-switch tactics — appearing benign during review but behaving differently after approval.

Despite increasingly sophisticated attempts to compromise the App Store, Apple’s combination of automated tools and human review continues to play a vital role in safeguarding the platform. The company’s data reinforces its commitment to keeping the App Store secure, transparent, and trustworthy for both developers and users.

Reference

1. https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2025/05/2-billion-in-fraud-stopped-as-apple.html

Cite this article:

Keerthana S (2025), Apple Blocks $2 Billion in Fraud Amid Enhanced App Store Security Measures, AnaTechMaz, pp.102.