Over 200K fraudulent developers were kicked out of the Apple App Store last year

Apple said it interrupted over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent App Store transactions and stopped cybercriminals from creating a staggering 711 million malicious customer accounts last year alone.

Apple has released a report on its security operations over the last five years, which reveals startling numbers of malevolent attempts.

The Cupertino giant says it prevented over $9 billion in fraudulent transactions over five years, including $2 billion in 2024 alone.

For comparison, last year, total reported cybercrime losses soared to $16.6 billion, according to the FBI.

“Apple also rejected over 711 million customer account creations and deactivated nearly 129 million customer accounts last year, blocking these risky and malicious accounts from carrying out nefarious activity,” Apple said in a press release.

Hackers also use bot accounts for spamming, manipulating ratings and reviews, charts, and search results that risk compromising the integrity of the App Store.

Last year, Apple terminated more than 146,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns and rejected an additional 139,000 developer enrollments.

Apple reviewed 7.7 million App Store submissions. Over 1.9 million app submissions were rejected for failing to meet Apple’s standards, including 400,000 apps violating privacy and 320,000 tailored for spam, copycat, or misleading purposes.

Additionally, 10,000 illegitimate apps were detected and blocked on pirate storefronts – they contained malware, porn, gambling, or pirated content.

“Threats range from deceptive apps designed to steal personal information to fraudulent payment schemes that attempt to exploit users. Apple employs a comprehensive approach to combating fraud on the App Store,” Apple said.

Cybercriminals try to sneak in bad apps by concealing hidden features and functionality in the code, which are only enabled after the app passes App Review.

The App Store is visited by more than 813 million visitors each week. Apple said it processed over 1.2 billion ratings and reviews in 2024, and 12% of them (143 million) were removed.

To eliminate potential theft of credit card data, Apple never shares card numbers with developers. When users make purchases, Apple uses “a device-specific number and unique transaction code so a card number is never stored on a consumer’s device or on Apple servers.”

Last year, Apple identified nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards and banned over 1.6 million accounts from transacting again.

TechCrunch reports that Apple releases the metrics days before Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2025). The company has to open Apple devices in the EU to alternative app stores.