Apple prevents $7 billion in App Store fraud in 4 years

In a statement, Apple revealed that between 2020 and 2023, they thwarted over $7 billion in possible fraudulent transactions, with over $1.8 billion prevented in 2023 alone.

New Delhi: Apple prevented over $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions on its App Store in the last four years, the company has informed.

In the same period, Apple blocked over 14 million stolen credit cards and over 3.3 million accounts from transacting again.

---

“From 2020 through 2023, Apple prevented a combined total of over $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, including more than $1.8 billion in 2023 alone,” the iPhone maker said in a statement.

The company said that as digital threats have evolved in scope and complexity over the years, “Apple has expanded its antifraud initiatives to address these challenges and help protect its users”.

Last year, the company rejected more than 1.7 million app submissions for failing to meet the App Store’s stringent standards for privacy, security, and content.

“In addition, Apple’s persistent efforts to stop and reduce fraud on the App Store resulted in the termination of nearly 374 million developer and customer accounts, and removal of close to 152 million ratings and reviews over fraud concerns,” the company noted.

In 2023 alone, Apple terminated close to 118,000 developer accounts, a decrease from 428,000 terminations from the prior year.

“Blocking apps from pirate storefronts is also beneficial to developers, whose apps could be modified or used to disguise malicious software for distribution on these platforms,” said the company.

Last month, Apple stopped nearly 3.8 million attempts to install or launch apps distributed illicitly through the ‘Developer Enterprise Programme’.

“Last year alone, over 375,000 app submissions were rejected for privacy violations,” Apple added.