Apple App Store blocks $1.5 billion worth of fraudulent transactions
Apple’s payment technologies include Apple Pay and StoreKit, which process in-app payments, subscriptions, and new purchases
There are some big numbers to process as part of Apple’s annual fraud prevention analysis report for 2021. The tech giant recently informed that last year, the various mechanisms in the App Store stopped nearly $1.5 billion worth of fraudulent transactions, and more than 1.6 million risky and vulnerable apps, as well as app updates, were stopped from defrauding users. More than 3.3 million stolen credit cards were blocked from making any transactions and more than 170 million fraudulent customer accounts were deactivated from the platform.
Apple said that the multi-layered app review process uses automated processes, including machine learning and heuristics, and a manual human review before an app or an update is approved for listing.
“Human review is the distinguishing component of the App Review process. The App Review team reviews every application and update to ensure they follow the App Store’s guidelines related to privacy, security, and spam,” Apple said in a statement.
In the same period that saw 107,000 new app developers list their apps on the App Store, more than 802,000 fraudulent developer accounts were terminated, and over 835,000 problematic new apps and 805,000 app updates were rejected or removed. More concerning is the developer’s habit of attempting to include hidden features; Apple informed that 34,500 apps included some hidden or undocumented features. In 2020, this number was higher at around 48,000.
Also, more than 157,000 apps (150,000 in 2020) were rejected because they were categorised as spam, copycats, or misleading users, such as manipulating them into making a purchase or transaction. For fraud accounts that were deactivated, there were reattempts to create a new account. Apple’s measures detected 118 million attempts and rejected these account creation attempts; more than 424 million attempts were rejected the year before.
Apple has often been criticised for not allowing users the flexibility to download apps from third-party application stores, much like how Google allows on Android phones. The company has maintained that the authenticity and security of downloads made from other stores cannot be confirmed, which risks the iPhone user’s data and privacy. Apple has highlighted that problem, this time in numbers from last year.
The tech giant blocked more than 63,500 apps that were illegitimate on pirate storefronts. Remember, these are app listings and not the number of downloads. The common problem with these apps was that they were designed to resemble popular apps – to catch unsuspecting users – and that attempted to modify popular apps without their developers authorising any such change. This number was higher in 2020, with a reported 110,000 illegitimate apps being blocked.
It was last year when Apple released the first fraud prevention analysis report, compiling the measures and results for the year 2020. This is the second edition of this report.
“In 2021 alone, as a result of a combination of technology and human review, more than 3.3 million stolen cards were prevented from being used to make potentially fraudulent purchases,” Apple said in its report.
This problem has increased since 2020, when around 3 million stolen cards were identified. The company has also banned 600,000 accounts from transacting again on the App Store or any of Apple’s apps. These measures prevented as much as $1.5 billion in fraud transactions in the year. Apple’s payment technologies include Apple Pay and StoreKit, which process in-app payments, subscriptions, and new purchases.