Apple says it blocked $2.2 billion in App Store fraud

Apple said on May 20 that it stopped more than $2.2 billion in potentially fraudulent App Store transactions in 2025, extending a six-year total to more than $11.2 billion. The company also said it rejected over 2 million app submissions last year and blocked 1.1 billion attempts to create fraudulent customer accounts. (apple.com) Apple published the figures in a Newsroom post as it continues to defend the App Store’s tightly controlled model on security grounds. The company said the store now draws more than 850 million weekly visitors across 175 storefronts. ### Where did the $2.2 billion figure come from? Apple said the number comes from its annual fraud analysis covering calendar year 2025. The company described the blocked activity as “potentially fraudulent transactions,” a category it has used in prior yearly disclosures on App Store safety and abuse. (apple.com) The six-year total rose to more than $11.2 billion, Apple said, up from the more than $9 billion total it reported a year earlier for the prior five-year period. In that 2025 report, Apple said it had blocked more than $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions during 2024. (apple.com) ### How much of Apple’s fraud fight was about accounts, not payments? Apple said its systems rejected 1.1 billion fraudulent customer account creation attempts in 2025 and deactivated another 40.4 million customer accounts for fraud and abuse. The company said those steps were aimed at stopping bad actors before they could use the store to scam users or manipulate rankings, reviews or payments. (apple.com) The company also said it terminated 146,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns in 2025 and rejected another 139,000 developer enrollments from suspected bad actors. Apple said those actions were meant to keep fraudulent developers from entering or re-entering the platform. (apple.com) ### What happened in app review? Apple said it reviewed more than 7.7 million App Store submissions in 2025 and rejected more than 2 million of them for failing to meet its standards for security, reliability and user experience. The company said common reasons included privacy violations, hidden features and spam or copycat behavior. (apple.com) Gamereactor, citing Apple’s report, highlighted the same figures in a separate write-up published on May 21. SecurityWeek also reported the 2 million rejections and the 1.1 billion blocked fraudulent account creations. ### How is Apple using the numbers? (apple.com) Apple said the figures show the value of operating the App Store as what it called a safe and trusted marketplace for users and developers. The company has repeatedly used its annual fraud reports to argue that centralized review, payment controls and account screening reduce abuse on the platform. The latest disclosure follows the same pattern as Apple’s earlier yearly reports. (apple.com) In 2024, Apple said it had stopped more than $7 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions from 2020 through 2023, and in 2025 it raised the cumulative figure to more than $9 billion over five years. (gamereactor.eu) ### What comes next in Apple’s reporting? Apple’s next comparable fraud update is likely to come in 2027 if the company keeps its annual reporting cycle. For now, the latest benchmark is the May 20, 2026 Newsroom post covering 2025 activity, alongside Apple’s previously published May 2025 report covering 2024. (apple.com 1) (apple.com 2)