Running the customer service department here at the AVAST headquarters brings with it a huge variety of challenges - keeping over 150 million users satisfied is no easy task - and we see a whole range of emails from complimentary caricatures to concerning complaints.

During the past week or so, we have received some complaints and it appears that some of our customers are being targeted by a new scam. Luckily only a handful of customers have contacted us regarding this so far, but they report receiving phone calls from “Avast customer service” reps who need to take control of their computer to resolve some issue and who, for a fee, wish to charge them for this privilege.

I would like to set the record straight - here at AVAST, we never phone our customers (unless they specifically ask us to of course) and none of the partners we work with do either. We currently offer free and premium in-bound phone support for our English speaking customers (and also Spanish from next week) and we remain happy to assist as much as we can via email and our ever-popular user forum, but we do not make unsolicited calls - not for sales, not for support, and certainly not to try to scam our loyal customers.

We do always advise our customers to stay alert - online, and in this case, on the phone. Never disclose your credit card details to anyone unless you are specifically contacting them to make a purchase, never download software you are unfamiliar with, and never give access to your computer (remotely or in person) to someone you do not trust.

Stay Alert - Stay Safe