The Circuitry
THE CIRCUITRYYour one-stop source for all tech news
HOMETODAYNEWSFEEDEVENTS
BOOKMARKS
RSS
© 2026 The Circuitry
About UsSourcesContactCorrectionsPrivacy
  • Today
  • Feed
  • Events
  • Saved
Scroll for more
Verification
VERIFIEDConfidence: HIGH
Source identified
Claims cross-referenced
No discrepancies found
Sourcing
1source

via BleepingComputer

BleepingComputer · track record
65Stories
100%Verified
3230d
All sources →
Markets
AAPL···

Live quote · not investment advice

Home/Tech/Apple Blocks Over $11 Billion in App Store Fraud in Six Years
VERIFIEDBy Xavier Rivera· ·2 min read

Apple Blocks Over $11 Billion in App Store Fraud in Six Years

Apple blocked over $11 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions over the last six years, including more than $2.2 billion in 2025 alone. The company rejected millions of app submissions and accounts while deploying machine learning and human review to combat fraud at scale.

Source:BleepingComputer
Post
Apple Blocks Over $11 Billion in App Store Fraud in Six Years
TL;DRAI · 60 sec read

Apple blocked over $11 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions over six years, including more than $2.2 billion in 2025. The company rejected over 2 million app submissions, terminated 193,000 developer accounts, and deactivated millions of suspicious accounts. It uses machine learning and human review to detect fraud and protect users and developers.

Over the past six years, Apple has prevented more than $11 billion worth of fraudulent transactions on its App Store. The company reported blocking over $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent App Store transactions during 2025 by itself.



In a press release issued on Wednesday, the tech giant noted that it turned away more than 2 million questionable app submissions in the past year. It also stopped more than 1.1 billion attempts to create fraudulent accounts, ended 193,000 developer accounts linked to fraud, and declined over 138,000 developer enrollment requests. In addition, Apple deactivated 40.4 million customer accounts believed to be involved in fraud or abuse.


Last year Apple stopped more than 5.4 million stolen credit cards from being used and banned nearly 2 million user accounts.

During 2025, the firm prevented more than 5.4 million stolen credit cards from being used for purchases and shut down nearly 2 million user accounts engaged in suspicious behavior. These numbers show a clear rise compared with earlier periods. For instance, in 2024 Apple had blocked over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions, identified nearly 4.7 million stolen credit cards, and stopped over 1.6 million accounts from completing further purchases.



"Apple utilizes both human review and advanced technology to identify and stop the use of stolen financial information," the tech giant said.


From The CircuitryThe Feed — live briefs across tech, all day.See what’s happening →

"By leveraging machine learning, Apple teams build powerful models to accelerate fraud detection and quickly evaluate new deceptive tactics. These technologies also provide a comprehensive view of fraudulent activity across customer accounts, devices, and payment methods."


Nearly 59,000 apps were removed from the App Store last year for bait-and-switch tactics, almost triple the 17,000 removed throughout 2024.

Apple's App Review team examined over 9.1 million app submissions throughout 2025, an increase from 7.7 million the year before. Of those reviewed, more than 443,000 were rejected due to privacy violations, over 371,000 for copying other apps or using misleading descriptions, and more than 22,000 for including hidden or undocumented capabilities.



Nearly 59,000 apps were pulled from the App Store last year because of bait-and-switch practices, nearly triple the 17,000 removed in all of 2024. On the review manipulation side, the company handled more than 1.3 billion ratings and reviews in 2025 while blocking nearly 195 million that were fraudulent.


Apple kept nearly 7,800 misleading apps out of search results, barred 11,500 from appearing in App Store charts, and identified and removed 28,000 unauthorized apps from pirate storefronts. According to Apple, the App Store currently draws over 850 million weekly visitors across 175 storefronts worldwide. The company urges customers who notice suspicious activity in apps obtained from the App Store to report it right away at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Why this mattersAI · ~100 words

Tap a lens to see what this story means for you.

Reader-supported
DonateBuy me a coffee →Follow@thecircuitry_ →Follow@thecircuitry.to →

Reader-supported · Daily Brief

Daily brief at 7 AM ET. Top tech stories, every morning. Sourced and fact-checked.

HELP US IMPROVE
From The Circuitry

See what’s happening right now

The Feed runs all day — short, verified briefs the moment they break.

Open the Feed →
From The Circuitry

Follow @thecircuitry_

Every story we publish, as it happens. No noise between.

Follow on X ↗On Bluesky ↗

Reader-supported

The Circuitry is a passion project I've always wanted to build, and I love the work behind it.

Running it costs real money. APIs, hosting, time. To keep improving the site and growing this into something useful for everyone, those costs have to be covered.

Any contribution is appreciated. If not, no pressure. Thanks for reading.

Buy me a coffee
AppleApp StoreFraudSecurity
More fromBleepingComputer
  • CISA warns of actively exploited RCE flaws in Joomla extensions

    Tech · 5h
  • OpenAI Temporarily Drops 5-Hour Cap on GPT-5.6 Sol

    Tech · 20h
  • Progress tells ShareFile on-premises users to power down servers over reported threat

    Tech · 3d
More inTech
  • Philips to replace bricked Hue Bridge Pro devices

    Tech · 2h
  • Tesla Dismantles Model S/X Lines at Fremont for Optimus

    Tech · 3h
  • Apple accuses OpenAI of stealing secrets for AI hardware

    Tech · 3h
SupportThe Work

The Circuitry is reader-supported. If you find the daily brief useful, you can buy me a coffee to keep it going.

Buy a coffee →
SubscribeCircuitry Brief

Daily brief at 7 AM ET. Top tech stories, every morning.

MORE IN TECH

Philips to replace bricked Hue Bridge Pro devices

Philips is replacing fewer than 100 Hue Bridge Pro devices bricked by a specific firmware update scenario and has issued a new update on July 13 to prevent further cases. The replacements are free regardless of warranty but require users to rebuild their smart lighting setups from scratch since configuration backups are unavailable.

Tesla Dismantles Model S/X Lines at Fremont for Optimus

Tesla has torn down its original Model S and Model X assembly lines at the Fremont factory in 46 days to begin Optimus robot production. The move prepares the site for up to 1 million units per year while larger volumes are planned for Texas.

Apple accuses OpenAI of stealing secrets for AI hardware

Apple has filed a 41-page lawsuit accusing OpenAI and three former employees of stealing confidential documents and trade secrets to aid development of the startup's first AI hardware device. The claims include retaining company computers, exploiting network vulnerabilities, and coaching staff on evading security to obtain unreleased product details.