{"id":71,"date":"2024-09-26T16:47:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T16:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/2024\/09\/26\/ftc-rules-avast-customers-entitled-to-16-5-million-settlement-how-to-claim-your-share\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T09:13:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T09:13:44","slug":"ftc-rules-avast-customers-entitled-to-16-5-million-settlement-how-to-claim-your-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/?p=71","title":{"rendered":"FTC rules Avast customers entitled to $16.5 million settlement \u2014 how to claim your share"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you bought Avast antivirus software between August 2014 and January 2020, you should do two things right away: First, look into filing a claim for some of the $16.5 million dollar settlement that the FTC has awarded customers of the antivirus service. Secondly, look into a good identity theft protection program and make sure you\u2019re monitoring your credit reports.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <u>Federal Trade Commission announcement<\/u> on Monday (February 24), the software company will make payments to millions of customers who bought their products in that time frame because Avast \u201cfailed to protect their customers&#8217; privacy.\u201d Instead, according to the FTC ruling, Avast collected user information through their antivirus software and browser extensions and sold it through a subsidiary called Jumpshot \u2014 all without notifying customers or gaining their consent.<\/p>\n<p>The personal information that was gathered and sold includes religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, locations and financial status according to a<u> 2024 FTC consumer alert<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Avast customers who have been affected should receive an email from the FTC sometime between now and March 7. It is estimated that more than 3 million customers purchased software in the August 2014 to January 2020 time period.<\/p>\n<p>Eligible Avast customers can check their FTC email for a claim number to use when <u>filing a claim<\/u> for an online payment. The deadline to file is June 5, 2025; the amount of individual payments is not yet known and will depend in part on how many people file a claim. Payments will go out sometime in 2026, and once the date is decided it will be updated on the <u>FTC\u2019s settlement website<\/u>. Additionally, anyone who needs help with a claim can contact a refund administrator at 1-866-290-0165.<\/p>\n<h3>More from SocialVpns&#8217;s Guide<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Watch out! Scammers are using this PayPal setting to take over your PC<\/li>\n<li>More than 3.3 million people hit by employee screening data hack \u2014 what you need to know<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t click this \u2014 malicious ads impersonating Google Chrome spreading dangerous malware<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<section>\n<h2>Sign up to get the BEST of SocialVpns&#8217;s Guide direct to your inbox.<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n<footer>By submitting your information you agree to the Terms &amp; Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.<\/footer>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you bought A..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/antivirus-security-jq2txfuh0q1.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,24,10,12,15,14,22,17,19,21,23],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-malware","tag-antivirus","tag-antivirus-security","tag-antivirus-news","tag-antivirus-reviews","tag-antivirus-services","tag-best-antivirus-services","tag-best-security-services","tag-security","tag-security-news","tag-security-reviews","tag-security-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialvpns.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}