- Kyle Chua
Apple’s App Store Prevents Over $2 Billion in Fraudulent Transactions
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
Apple continues to implement safeguards to protect App Store users from bad actors.
The Cupertino, California tech giant in a report shared that it has prevented over US$2.09 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions on the App Store in 2022. It reached the figure by blocking 3.9 million stolen credit cards from being used on the platform, banning 714,000 accounts from transacting again.
The iPhone maker added that it continues to invest in creating secure payment technologies like Apple Pay and StoreKit to protect the financial data of App Store users. These technologies are used by about 943,000 apps to sell goods and services.
Apart from payment and credit card fraud, Apple said it protected users from account fraud, terminating over 428,000 developer accounts for potentially fraudulent activity in the same year. Meanwhile, nearly 105 million Apple Developer Programme enrolments were rejected for similar reasons, preventing them from submitting apps to the App Store. The tech giant also deactivated over 282 million customer accounts that have been suspected of abusive and fraudulent activity.
For an app to be put up in the App Store, it has to pass a number of inspections that certify it's using authorised tech, does not reference private APIs and free of malware. Submissions are also carefully scrutinised by a member of the App Review team to ensure it meets Apple’s standards of quality and safety.
Almost 1.7 million app submissions were rejected from the App Store in 2022 for various reasons. Nearly 400,000 were rejected for privacy violations, while over 153,000 were rejected for concerns related to spam, copycats or misleading users. Up to 29,000 were also rejected for containing hidden or undocumented features.
Apple is also ensuring reviews and ratings for apps on the App Store are authentic. Over 1 billion ratings and reviews were said to be processed in 2022. No less than 147 million of them were blocked and removed for failing to meet Apple's moderation standards.
The App Store is home to the apps of more than 36 million registered developers. It attracts about 650 million average weekly users worldwide.
Apple shared that it has prevented over US$2.09 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions on the App Store in 2022.
It reached the figure by blocking 3.9 million stolen credit cards from being used on the platform, and banning 714,000 accounts from transacting again.
Apart from payment and credit card fraud, the tech giant said it protected users from account fraud, terminating over 428,000 developer accounts for potentially fraudulent activity in the same year.