Nobody thinks they’ll get hit — until it happens. In 2025, app fraud isn’t hype; it’s what you see when your logs light up at 3 a.m. and someone’s draining your wallet for real.
Some recent facts and examples
Bybit lost $1.5B (Feb 2025)
Not a “genius hack,” just skipping device and MFA checks for big withdrawals.
Result: instant outflow, forced audits, regulatory headaches.
- $12.5B in user losses last year (FTC): Attackers target mobile first, especially fintech and marketplaces.
- Regulatory fines are real: I’ve seen fintech and medtech projects pay $40K–$200K because a single unsecured API leaked user data. Usually the leak was something basic: a forgotten auth check, a verbose log.
What we've learned works (and what didn't)
1. MFA for transactions
- For Flutter:
otp_text_field. For Node:speakeasy. - SMS codes are getting owned by SIM swap attacks; push notifications are safer (Authy, Firebase).
- Once tried disabling MFA for “trusted devices.” That ended with cookie-based account takeovers and a painful rollback.
2. Device fingerprinting
- Used SEON (super fast start, analytics limited) and FingerprintJS (more options, more setup).
- FingerprintJS caught bot logins coming from shared IP pools that IP-based geo checks missed.
3. Risk scoring on sessions
- Ravelin — easy API, works well for commerce and subscription apps.
- False positives under 2%. No angry emails about login issues.
4. Manual review and event logging
- Automation catches most things, but we still flag high-risk transactions for human review.
- Having a good event dashboard is critical: twice, our support team stopped fraud in progress just by reacting to strange login clusters.
Where we wasted time and money
- Building everything from scratch: We tried this. Four months in, SDKs still won: regulatory updates are non-stop, fraudsters bypass naive logic fast.
- Relying on open source only: Good for MVP, but slow bug fixes and outdated docs made it risky for production. Updates lagged behind new attack methods.
What actually works for most teams:
- Start with a proven SDK; build your custom logic around it.
- Invest in solid logging and automated alerts.
- Focus your time on flows unique to your app, not re-inventing security wheels.
Main takeaways
- Fraud prevention is a process, not a checkbox. You’ll always be adapting.
- Don’t compromise on core security. You can trim UI/UX, but never shortcuts around money flows.
- Open source can help you learn, but don’t bet your app’s survival on it alone.
- Know your own risks: how many transactions, what’s the cost of a breach, which regulator will come knocking first?
Want a quick cost estimate? Try this free calculator:
👉 App Security & Fraud Prevention Calculator
Full breakdown of SDKs, costs, and playbooks here:
👉 Mobile App Fraud Prevention Cost in 2025
Would love to hear what’s actually worked for you (or what totally failed). Drop your stories or tools in the comments — I always learn something from this crowd.
Top comments (1)
We had a scare last year when a simple logging misconfiguration exposed session tokens. Ever since, security has been a core part of every sprint. One thing that helped was integrating a white-labeled financing solution kindgeek.com/white_label_pfm_platform with built-in fraud prevention layers. Not only did it save us time, but it also reduced our exposure to known attack vectors. Prevention is a mindset, not a feature.