As Apple grapples with the possibility of losing authority over the App Store in the US, the company issued a press announcement disclosing that it halted over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions and prevented nearly 2 million dubious app submissions from reaching users in 2024.
While it’s always noteworthy to observe the company’s initiatives to combat fraud on the App Store, Cupertino is striving intensely to uphold control of its profitable marketplace. A judge in California has mandated Apple to permit developers to provide third-party payment alternatives outside the App Store and to reinstate Fortnite on the platform.
Apple claims that, based on its yearly App Store fraud evaluation, it has “safeguarded users by averting over $9 billion in fraudulent transactions” since 2008. The company also disclosed a summary of its initiatives to combat fraud on the App Store:
Account Fraud: In 2024, the organization terminated more than 146,000 developer accounts due to fraud worries and rejected an additional 139,000 developer applications, thwarting malicious actors from submitting their apps. Apple also disallowed over 711 million customer account creations and deactivated nearly 129 million accounts last year, preventing risky and malicious accounts from spamming or influencing ratings and reviews.
App Review: Apple depends on an App Store Review team to ensure submitted apps are not fraudulent. Typically, the team reviews almost 150,000 app submissions every week. App Review integrates human assessment and automated procedures to identify and act on apps suspected of possibly endangering users. Over 7.7 million apps were assessed in 2024, and more than 1.9 million were turned down for not meeting the company’s criteria.
Discovery Fraud: In 2024, Apple processed over 1.2 billion ratings and reviews, removing more than 143 million fraudulent ones. That same year, the company also eliminated over 7,400 apps from App Store charts and nearly 9,500 misleading apps from appearing in search results.
Payment and Credit Card Fraud: Last year, Apple detected nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards and prohibited over 1.6 million accounts from transacting again. In addition to its antifraud strategies, Apple offers developers tools like Apple Pay and StoreKit, used by over 420,000 apps to provide users with a secure method to make purchases on the App Store.
