Security News > 2021 > May > Apple Removed 95,000 Fraudulent Applications From App Store in 2020
In 2020, Apple removed or rejected hundreds of thousands of applications from the App Store for engaging in various forms of fraudulent behavior, including spam, mischief, and privacy violations.
An additional 95,000 apps were removed for violating the App Store policies, mainly for performing bait-and-switch maneuvers, where the app functionality is fundamentally changed - usually to commit nefarious actions - after approval in the App Store.
"In just the last few months, for example, Apple has rejected or removed apps that switched functionality after initial review to become real-money gambling apps, predatory loan issuers, and pornography hubs; used in-game signals to facilitate drug purchasing; and rewarded users for broadcasting illicit and pornographic content via video chat," the company reveals.
Last year, Apple's App Review team rejected more than 215,000 applications that were found to harvest more user data than needed, or which were mishandling the collected data.
App Store fraud attempts, Apple says, may span even further, involving ratings and reviews, user accounts, developer accounts, and financial transactions.
With over 900,000 applications in the App Store selling goods and services via payment technologies like Apple Pay and StoreKit, fraud attempts are bound to emerge, and Apple says it was able to prevent more than $1.5 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions last year.