Author Topic: Avast Advertisement Scam  (Read 1876 times)

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Offline haei

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Avast Advertisement Scam
« on: August 18, 2021, 02:16:04 PM »
There's an ad that's being promoted by Google on the Avast Mobile App that's a scam, I had no idea where to write this so I'm coming here.

The add was purposefully made to look like an Avast feature, with the same color scheme Avast has, you click "open" and it brings you to their site, When you click the big red "continue" button it'll ask to show notifications, which i blocked of course, but then it redirects you to "see other stories" which are ALL sex ads and sexualized content, and when you scroll down it just gets worse, I just thought I'd bring this up to warn other people, I'm not sure what it is, but it shouldn't be promoted

Here's the screenshots (I blurred out some just in case)



Offline r@vast

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Re: Avast Advertisement Scam
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2021, 04:24:05 PM »
Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a third-party ad in Avast Cleanup (free version - https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Cleanup-Premium-FAQ/#idt_8330). We have reported this issue to the third-party ad provider.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Offline bob3160

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Re: Avast Advertisement Scam
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2021, 05:08:03 PM »
Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a third-party ad in Avast Cleanup (free version - https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Cleanup-Premium-FAQ/#idt_8330). We have reported this issue to the third-party ad provider.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Doesn't Avast scan those third-party ad suppliers so this kind of garbage doesn't happen? Wow
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Offline schmidthouse

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Re: Avast Advertisement Scam
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2021, 09:59:29 PM »
Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a third-party ad in Avast Cleanup (free version - https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Cleanup-Premium-FAQ/#idt_8330). We have reported this issue to the third-party ad provider.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Doesn't Avast scan those third-party ad suppliers so this kind of garbage doesn't happen? Wow

Absolutely agree, Wow
You would think Avast would be better at monitoring these kinds of 3rd party adds.

Offline DavidR

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Re: Avast Advertisement Scam
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2021, 10:21:15 PM »
Hi,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a third-party ad in Avast Cleanup (free version - https://support.avast.com/en-ww/article/Cleanup-Premium-FAQ/#idt_8330). We have reported this issue to the third-party ad provider.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Doesn't Avast scan those third-party ad suppliers so this kind of garbage doesn't happen? Wow

Absolutely agree, Wow
You would think Avast would be better at monitoring these kinds of 3rd party adds.

The problem is that 3rd party ads are supplied by a company (not by the app provider) and they select or push whatever ads are on their books.  I have no idea what kind of vetting they do of the ads submitted.

Not letting Avast off the hook here, they are equally responsible and should perhaps vet/fire the company providing the ads.

I see that in other third party ads on other websites (the website getting blocked {often by Avast] because of the ads) and not specifically ad supported APPs in android, etc.  So Avast free APP also needs to take responsibility.
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Offline r@vast

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Re: Avast Advertisement Scam
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2021, 01:10:59 PM »
Hi,

We do have checks in place to disable or block categories of offensive ads. However, it does happen (though rarely) that Google or Facebook cannot control these on their end, which makes it even more difficult for us to scan an ad before showing it.
We are committed to improving user experience and will constantly monitor and block such ads on a daily basis.