Fake avast! Antivirus: Avast-antivirus-francais.exe

Cyber-criminals are attempting to benefit from unexperienced web users who are looking for anti-virus software. We found a couple of misleading websites in French language that distribute rogue avast! Antivirus installer Avast-antivirus-francais.exe.

• avastantivirus2011.com
• avastfrance.com

We ran the installer and were immediately prompted to send an SMS to a premium number (3.99 Euros) in order to get our activation code which allows us to continue the installation. That's a very shady practice, especially when you can download and install avast! Antivirus from the official website absolutely for free. Perhaps even more interesting fact is that scammers include a link to the official avast! website at the bottom of their misleading web pages. Scammers also explain that they offer a verified and virus free download link for 3.99 Euros. The key takeaway of this story: do not download software from non-official websites. You can download avast! Antivirus from avast.com. Good luck and be safe online!