Apple Thwarts Over $1.5 billion In Fraudulent Transactions In App Store

It’s no secret that Apple likes to keep a firm grip on its product and software ecosystems. This also includes the stringent vetting process that each app is put through, before being accepted into the App Store. The company wants it to be a safe and trusted place where people can discover and download apps.

Apple says it uses a combination of technology and human expertise to protect customers from potentially fraudulent transactions and remove potentially problematic new apps from being downloaded. In 2021, customers were protected from nearly $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, and over 1.6 million risky and vulnerable apps and app updates.

Each app and corresponding update undergoes thorough scrutiny before being made available to the public. The review is a multi-layered process including computer automation and manual human review. This includes machine learning, heuristics, and data accumulated since the App Store first launched.

Due to this, last year;

• Over 835,000 problematic new apps, and an additional 805,000 app updates, were rejected or removed
• More than 34,500 apps were rejected for containing hidden or undocumented features, and upward of 157,000 apps were rejected because they were found to be spam, copycats, or misleading to users
• Over 155,000 apps were removed from the App Store for their misleading behavior.
• Over 343,000 apps for requesting more user data than necessary or mishandling data
• Detected and blocked over 94 million reviews and over 170 million ratings from publications that didn’t meet the required standards
• Terminated over 802,000 developer accounts in 2021 for fraudulent and deceitful behavior.
• 153,000 developer enrollments were rejected over fraud concerns
• Deactivated over 170 million customer accounts associated with fraudulent and abusive activity.