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

Apple reported blocking over $11 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions between 2019 and 2025, with $2.2 billion of that total occurring in 2025 alone. The company rejected over 2 million problematic app submissions last year and blocked more than 1.1 billion fraudulent account creations. It also terminated 193,000 developer accounts and rejected 138,000 developer enrollments due to fraud risks, while deactivating 40.4 million customer accounts linked to suspicious activity. In 2025, Apple stopped 5.4 million stolen credit cards and banned nearly 2 million user accounts, up from $2 billion in blocked fraudulent transactions and 4.7 million stolen cards identified in 2024. The tech giant uses machine learning and human review to detect fraud across customer accounts, devices, and payment methods, adapting to new deceptive tactics. Apple’s App Review team evaluated 9.1 million app submissions in 2025, rejecting 443,000 for privacy violations, 371,000 for being copycats or misleading, and 22,000 for hidden features. Nearly 59,000 apps were removed for bait-and-switch tactics, nearly triple the 17,000 removed in 2024. The company also blocked 7,800 deceptive apps from search results and 11,500 from App Store charts, while detecting 28,000 illegitimate apps on pirate storefronts. Fraudulent reviews were a major target, with Apple processing 1.3 billion ratings and blocking 195 million fake ones in 2025. The App Store now serves over 850 million weekly visitors across 175 storefronts worldwide. Apple advises users to report suspicious activity via reportaproblem.apple.com.