Apple Unveils Massive Fraud Figures Plaguing the App Store

Apple’s App Store, boasting over 850 million weekly users across 175 regional storefronts, naturally attracts the attention of cybercriminals and fraudsters. These bad actors continuously adapt their tactics to infiltrate the platform with malicious apps, aiming to exploit both users and developers.

In its 2025 safety report, Apple disclosed that it thwarted more than $2.2 billion in fraudulent transactions last year alone, accumulating a six-year total of $11.2 billion in prevented fraud. Additionally, the tech giant stopped over 5.4 million instances of stolen credit card misuse and prohibited nearly 2 million accounts from conducting further transactions.

Out of 9.1 million app submissions reviewed annually, Apple rejected upwards of 2 million applications due to various issues, as part of its ongoing efforts to curb the spread of harmful software on the platform.

On the topic of account fraud, Apple highlighted that fraudsters are increasingly using bot networks to fabricate accounts, spam legitimate users, skew app store rankings, and post bogus reviews. The company’s Trust and Safety units successfully intercepted several extensive operations aimed at establishing fraudulent accounts in the past year.

Apple disclosed that it has thwarted more than 1.1 billion fraudulent customer account creations on the App Store, simultaneously disabling over 40.4 million accounts linked to fraud or abuse. The tech giant also took decisive action against rogue developers, terminating 193,000 developer accounts on suspicion of fraudulent activity and rejecting 138,000 new enrollment requests. Extending its vigilance beyond its own marketplace, Apple identified and blocked 28,000 counterfeit apps circulating on pirate storefronts.

The company also tackled the problem of bogus reviews that artificially boost app rankings. By leveraging a blend of artificial intelligence and human moderation, Apple sifted through 1.3 billion ratings and reviews in 2025, removing nearly 195 million deceptive entries and stopping roughly 7,800 fraudulent apps from surfacing in search results.

These staggering figures illustrate the colossal scale at which major app stores like the App Store and Google Play must operate to protect users and developers alike. Yet, despite these efforts, the data Apple released for 2024 and 2025 suggests that fraudulent and malicious activity continues to climb year over year.

For those interested in the latest innovations, Apple has published the final shortlist of 36 apps and games selected for this year’s Apple Design Awards, highlighting standout achievements in design, technology, and user experience.