Apple Prevents Over $2 Billion in Fraudulent Transactions in 2024
In its latest App Store fraud analysis, Apple revealed that it successfully blocked more than $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2024 alone. This milestone brings the total value of thwarted fraudulent activities to over $9 billion since 2019, underscoring Apple's continued commitment to user safety and App Store integrity.
With the App Store receiving over 813 million weekly visitors and operating in 175 regions, Apple maintains a robust and evolving defense system to protect users and developers. This strategy integrates advanced automated technologies with human oversight to detect and respond to fraud across multiple vectors.
Defending Against Fraudulent Apps
Apple’s multi-layered security approach begins with app review. In 2024, Apple evaluated over 7.7 million app submissions, rejecting 1.9 million for failing to meet standards related to security, privacy, and reliability. Of those, approximately 400,000 were denied due to privacy violations, and more than 320,000 were flagged for spam, plagiarism, or misleading practices.
Fraudsters often attempt to bypass initial reviews by embedding deceptive features that activate post-approval. In response, Apple rejected over 43,000 apps last year for containing hidden or undocumented functionalities.
More than 37,000 apps were also removed from the App Store in 2024 after being linked to fraudulent activity. Many of these apps were traced to coordinated developer networks aiming to manipulate users and evade detection.
Mitigating Developer and Account Fraud
Apple intensified efforts against developer account abuse. In 2024, over 146,000 developer accounts were terminated for engaging in fraudulent behavior. Additionally, Apple blocked more than 139,000 attempts to enroll new developer accounts before they could cause harm.
The company also acted decisively to prevent misuse by consumers. Over 711 million attempts to create fraudulent customer accounts were blocked, and nearly 129 million accounts were deactivated. These measures aim to prevent manipulation of the App Store’s reviews, ratings, and app visibility features.
Securing the Broader App Ecosystem
Beyond the App Store, Apple targeted pirate storefronts and unauthorized app distributions. In 2024, more than 10,000 counterfeit apps were detected and removed, and nearly 4.6 million installation or launch attempts from unapproved sources were blocked.
Apple also worked to combat App Store discovery fraud, which involves artificially inflating app rankings and search visibility. The company reviewed more than 1.2 billion ratings and reviews last year and removed over 143 million fraudulent entries. Furthermore, more than 7,400 apps were eliminated from the App Store charts, and nearly 9,500 deceptive apps were excluded from search results.
Safeguarding Payment Infrastructure
A major focus in 2024 was on protecting the App Store’s payment ecosystem. Apple prevented over $2 billion in fraudulent transactions, using advanced technologies like Apple Pay and StoreKit. The company also detected and blocked 4.7 million stolen credit cards and restricted more than 1.6 million user accounts from conducting further transactions.
Apple Pay enhances payment security by generating a unique device-specific number and transaction code for each purchase. This prevents the sharing of actual card numbers and reduces the risk of financial fraud. Additionally, over 420,000 apps now use StoreKit to power in-app purchases, which are secured by end-to-end encryption, fraud detection, and user-facing tools for managing subscriptions and purchase history.
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