Avast Mobile Security - I am paying for SMS messages from them - Czech Republic

Hi. Samsung Galaxy S3. I recently installed an app called Avast Mobile. Since then I have noticed that my top up money keeps going down, after consulting with the GiffGaff Team it turns out that the tel number that I am apparently ringing belong to 420720001669 the Czech Republic! It seems to me that it coincides with the installation of Avast Anti-Theft that has permission to send SMS messages, and as coincidence AVAST Software is a Czech company … Is there any way I can stop the text messages? Especially as I am the one that is paying for them!! Or should I un-install avast and look for another app. Thank you.

I had the same thing happen to me. Just found out last night. What gives? You are taking money from me unsolicited? No permission?

At least AT&T was helpful with zeroing in on the cause of the charges. 420720001669. I would like answer as well. I was able to reverse the charges, but this in not the point. I have uninstalled your software. I will plan to give a bad review with indication of your company taking money from me without permission. If this problem is not resolved.

The word Free does not mean; Take what you want from others without permission
Free means; Giving others something you have without repayment

It was a simple test to determine it was your company. Upon rebooting my device, your software sends a text message from my number to my number. At least, this is what I am lead to believe. Details indicate GPS location of my SIM card/device. Plus, other information provided. When I enabled this feature there was no indication of charges would occur. Other past two months, my phone had rebooted without reason or my request. It happened any time I needed to continue to use my phone or when I was sleeping. The notification sound would wake me up and I knew it rebooted again. This timeframe was a clear line to the times indicated on my bill. Hmmm.

I called back AT&T and they indicated the charge happened again. They asked what happened. I told them what I found during my research. Since there was a large credit to my account, I did not continue with them. I returned to my phone and UNINSTALLED your app. This is a clear attempt to take money from me without requesting permission. What I truly feel sorry for is the ones who PAID for the app and continued to receive extra charges on their accounts. Hmmm.

I only ask of your company is to investigate this issue with your field application engineers or software engineers. Please find out what is causing this and fix it. Stay true to your mission statement. Stay true to your word. After all, your website paints a clear picture of what your company does within the guidelines you established. Please feel free to use me for future investigation of this issue. I would be happy to work with you.

There is one thing that I cannot remove as a possible cause. Does the software send a text message to 420720 for some other reason. There are many possible settings within the software that I don’t fully understand it true function. I leave most of the settings at default from the installation. I feel this software would be of great usage on my smartphone now and the next one down the road.

Here is a list of my last bill. Nothing personal, just factual information of the issue. Do you see why I cannot the remove the possible cause of something else within the software that sends these international text messages. At least 85% of these are linked to unrequested reboots of my device. Even in the middle of sending a text message or using one of my other apps.

21 04/30/2013 03:35AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
27 04/30/2013 03:39AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
81 05/01/2013 08:45PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
123 05/03/2013 10:40AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
124 05/03/2013 10:40AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
132 05/03/2013 10:43AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
133 05/03/2013 10:43AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
158 05/03/2013 01:51PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
258 05/04/2013 11:06PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
271 05/05/2013 09:11AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
317 05/05/2013 10:03PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
324 05/05/2013 10:05PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
337 05/07/2013 09:39AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
345 05/07/2013 09:40AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
355 05/07/2013 07:53PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
480 05/10/2013 06:24PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
489 05/10/2013 09:56PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
503 05/10/2013 11:04PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
504 05/10/2013 11:04PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
510 05/10/2013 11:05PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
530 05/11/2013 09:27PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
537 05/11/2013 09:28PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
570 05/14/2013 06:08AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
606 05/16/2013 10:56AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
612 05/16/2013 10:57AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
653 05/17/2013 11:24AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
654 05/17/2013 11:24AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
660 05/17/2013 11:26AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
682 05/17/2013 05:09PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
683 05/17/2013 05:09PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
689 05/17/2013 05:12PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
738 05/18/2013 02:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
753 05/19/2013 02:04AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
759 05/19/2013 02:05AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
765 05/19/2013 02:17AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
772 05/19/2013 02:18AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
782 05/19/2013 05:58PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
783 05/19/2013 05:58PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
784 05/19/2013 05:58PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
790 05/19/2013 06:00PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
797 05/19/2013 06:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
798 05/19/2013 06:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
799 05/19/2013 06:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
800 05/19/2013 06:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
805 05/19/2013 06:11PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
830 05/20/2013 01:17PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
891 05/21/2013 04:37PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
892 05/21/2013 04:37PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
913 05/22/2013 06:40AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
983 05/23/2013 07:08PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
1043 05/24/2013 10:07AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
1044 05/24/2013 10:08AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
1050 05/24/2013 10:10AM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
1106 05/27/2013 07:44PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25
1114 05/27/2013 07:45PM 420720001669 INTL TXT 1 Sent 0.25

I had a similar experience travelling in Europe using Maxroam for a global roaming sim. I found that the bulk of my account balance was being chewed up by SMSs indicating my position that were being sent to my wife’s phone. There were some other SMSs being sent out too, which meant that I had to switch my phone to flight mode to keep enough money to make calls & send messages when I really needed to & wasted a lot of money in the 2 months that I was away and changing locations almost daily. This really needs to be addressed. I am still trying to turn this feature off and may have to simply uninstall Avast. Avast has been great for me on my PCs but this to me is a serious short coming that I hope can be addressed.

Hello,

during the setup of Anti-Theft you had the option to disable the SMS sent to our portal server in Prague (see screenshot below).
You can still disable this SMS service in Anti-Theft → avast! Account

http://i41.tinypic.com/1z5q0t4.png

Same Issue happend for me i didn’t regonize its an avast issue i had fight with my network service provider regarding this please check and solve this issue ASAP

As mentioned by Werner in the post prior to yours untick the “Send sms to portal”

Hi Werner,
I activated the option too, knowing sms are much more reliable than the internet which could be absent when the SIM is changed. First of all, let’s say I never noticed sms sent to the portal honestly, but knowing they would cost, I’d like to understand something more. Which kind of SMS will that option send? When? I would guess it does that only in a theft scene, like sim changed, or low battery if the “always notify” option is enable…doesn’t it? What else?

Thanks.
Best regards,
Matteo.

I would like to know too. Will the normal phone operation generate this SMS events? ROM upgrade? Thanks.

It depends. An SMS is sent whenever there is SIM card change - sometimes OS reports SIM card change without actually changing SIM cards, but we cannot change that.
In this case, just disable the setting above, you’ll still get notifications to your friend phone numbers anyways.

i have uninstalled the software,but still sms is going to czech number and my previous number,which charge me a lot.Please give me the solution to stop the sms.

i have uninstalled the software,but still sms is going to czech number and my previous number,which charge me a lot.Please give me the solution to stop the sms.

it looks like you uninstalled Mobile Security - but forgot to uninstall Anti-Theft

to uninstall our app please proceed as follows:

  • open avast! Mobile Security, open the settings and select the “avast! Anti-Theft removal wizard”. When it’s done you can uninstall avast! Mobile Security like any other app.
  • if you no longer have avast! Mobile Security installed and just want to uninstall Anti-Theft you can either reinstall avast! Mobile Security to use the wizard or proceed in these steps:

open your phone’s app manager and uninstall the app with the custom name you chose on installing avast! Anti Theft.
If the uninstall fails please remove the app from the device administrators list (you can find it in your phone’s settings).

to remove root installations of avast! Anti-Theft you can use the “avast! Anti-Theft removal wizard” or use the free tool “Titanium Backup”.

alternatively we offer a uninstall.zip at
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27553331/root%20uninstall.zip
unzip it and run uninstall.bat with your phone connected via USB to the pc. make sure usb-debugging is enabeled on your phone and the phone driver is installed on the PC.
If you do it on the PC where you rooted your phone you usually have these drivers available.

Regards,
Werner

Okay, guys, I’m having a similar issue - also with a Samsung Galaxy S3. To make a long story short, I have uninstalled Avast Anti-Theft (and checked and double-checked and had friends check to make sure I’m not pulling a stooge and installed something else instead). Also, BEFORE I uninstalled Avast Anti-Theft, I removed one person’s phone number from the list of people to text in case of a SIM card change. I had three people listed, then I removed one so that only two people were listed, then I deleted the app.

However, all three people are STILL getting texts from my phone every single time I restart it.

I don’t know if your server in Prague is getting texts, because I’ve uninstalled the app so I can no longer open the app to see whether the box to text the server is ticked or unticked.

I do still have Avast Mobile Security installed, but that program shouldn’t be texting anyone, right?

Also, just to be sure, I have seen the text messages on two of the three phones in question (the third person called me, but I haven’t been able to physically see her phone yet), and it is the message that I programmed into the app, and so on and so forth.

Thanks for your time.