Apple claims to have blocked $7 billion in fraud on App Store, rejected 1.7 million apps

Apple App Store

From 2020 through 2023, Apple claims that it prevented a combined total of over $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, including more than $1.8 billion in 2023 alone. During the last four years, Apple also blocked over 14 million stolen credit cards and more than 3.3 million accounts from transacting again.

The Cupertino-based company published its fourth annual fraud prevention analysis in which the company revealed these numbers. Apple also said that it rejected more than 1.7 million app submissions for failing to meet the App Store’s stringent standards for privacy, security, and content. Furthermore, nearly 374 million developer and customer accounts were terminated and 152 million ratings and reviews were removed over fraud concerns.

Apple said that its App Review team of over 500 experts evaluates every single app submission — from developers around the world — before any app ever reaches users. On average, the team reviews approximately 132,500 apps a week, and in 2023, reviewed nearly 6.9 million app submissions while helping more than 192,000 developers publish their first app onto the App Store, said Apple.

App Review team conducts a number of checks before any app makes its way onto the store, and leverages automated processes and human review to detect and take action on apps with the potential to harm or defraud users. In 2023, more than 1.7 million app submissions were rejected for various reasons, including privacy violations and fraudulent activity.

Apple also said that malicious actors also design apps with the intention to trick and scam users. In 2023, more than 248,000 app submissions were rejected from the App Store because they violated Apple’s policies against spam, blatantly copying other apps, or otherwise misleading users. This was in addition to over 38,000 app submissions that were rejected for containing hidden or undocumented features.

Apps that are designed to access users’ private, personal data without their permission or knowledge are also prohibited from the App Store. Last year alone, over 375,000 app submissions were rejected for privacy violations.