The FTC Is Sending a Second Round of Avast Refunds, 91,093 Payments Worth More Than $1.5 Million, and the Checks Must Be Cashed Within 90 Days

Anyone who accepted an Avast refund payment in December is on the list for another one. The Federal Trade Commission is sending a second round of Avast antivirus refunds: 91,093 payments worth more than $1.5 million, drawn from settlement money that was left over after the first round.

Checks in this round must be cashed within 90 days, the time limit printed on the check itself. The FTC’s page also lists PayPal and Zelle as ways the money can arrive.

The People on the Second-Round List

The group is narrow by design. According to the FTC’s Avast refund page, the new payments go only to people who bought Avast antivirus software, filed a valid claim before the deadline and then accepted their first payment. Anyone who never claimed, or who let the first payment lapse, is not part of this round.

The claim period closed long ago. The original deadline was June 5, 2025, and the FTC’s consumer alert from May 2025 said the people who could claim were those who bought Avast software between August 2014 and January 2020. Emails went out to eligible users between Feb. 24 and March 7, 2025, from a sender named “Avast Settlement,” and no receipts or proof of purchase were required. The FTC’s refund page now says the agency is no longer accepting claims and has distributed all available funds, so there is no new application for this round.

The first round went out in December 2025. The FTC’s Dec. 2, 2025 announcement described nearly $15.3 million in payments to 103,152 Avast customers who filed valid claims, and the refund page says that round resulted in more than $13.5 million in refunds.

The FTC lists no per-person amount for the second round. Dividing the total by the number of payments gives an average of at least about $16, though the actual amounts sent to individuals may differ.

How the Money Arrives and the Clock on Checks

The refund page lists three delivery methods. A check carries a 90-day cashing window. A PayPal payment is deposited directly into the recipient’s PayPal account. A Zelle payment lands in the recipient’s bank account with a note about the settlement. In the first round, the FTC said PayPal payments had to be redeemed within 30 days, while Zelle deposits had no deadline because they go straight into the account.

The refund administrator is Rust Consulting, Inc., and the FTC lists its phone line as 1-866-290-0165. The claims email address from the 2025 notice was [email protected]. Those details matter because an unexpected check or payment notice is the moment scammers look for.

The FTC’s refund FAQ says the agency never charges upfront fees and never asks for a Social Security number or bank account number, and that anyone claiming to be from the FTC who asks for money is running a scam. For PayPal payments, the FAQ says the FTC emails recipients first from a .gov address and advises against clicking links in unexpected emails. Its alternative is to go directly to ftc.gov/refunds or to PayPal.com. The same program page for each case lists the administrator’s phone number, so a recipient can verify a payment before acting on it.

Anyone who receives a check should look for the 90-day limit printed on it. The limit applies to each check separately, and the FAQ says reissues of expired checks may be possible if funds remain, with reissues generally processed monthly. Any reissue request goes through the administrator’s phone line.

The 2024 Order That Created the Fund

The money traces back to a case the FTC announced in February 2024. The agency alleged that Avast Limited, a UK-based company acting through its Czech subsidiary, collected consumers’ browsing information through its browser extensions and antivirus software, stored it indefinitely and sold it without adequate notice or consent. The refund page puts it plainly, saying Avast collected and sold users’ information to third parties without users’ consent.

In its June 27, 2024 announcement of the final order, the FTC said Avast must pay $16.5 million, which the agency expected to use for consumer redress. It alleged that Avast sold the data to more than 100 third parties through its subsidiary, Jumpshot, and that the company had told users its software would protect their privacy by blocking third-party tracking without adequately disclosing that detailed, re-identifiable browsing data would be sold.

The order bars Avast from selling or licensing web browsing data for advertising purposes. It also requires Avast to delete the browsing data transferred to Jumpshot along with products or algorithms derived from it, to get affirmative express consent before selling or licensing browsing data from non-Avast products, to notify affected consumers and to put a comprehensive privacy program in place. The Commission approved the settlement 3-0-2, with Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew N. Ferguson not participating.

Where Leftover Refund Money Goes

The FTC’s FAQ says that when money remains after a first round, the agency may issue a second one, and that leftover funds that cannot be distributed go to the U.S. Treasury. Avast’s second round exists because there was still money in the fund after December’s payments, and the people who accepted those payments are the ones the agency can reach with certainty.

The FTC’s refunds hub lists 79 active refund programs, and the newest entries, all dated October 2026, are Razer, Walmart, Avast, AdvoCare, Cleo AI and GOAT. The hub also links an interactive “Refunds by Case” dashboard that the FTC says it updates at least once a quarter, showing where refunds went, how much was returned and how many people benefited.

For recipients, the practical steps are short. The 90-day clock on a check is the one that can run out. Readers who followed earlier refund stories, such as the PayPal refunds going to Cleo AI customers, will recognize the pattern of a short window for digital payments and a longer one for paper. Accepting an FTC refund does not require anyone to give up federal or state legal rights, according to the agency’s FAQ, and the FAQ advises talking to a tax advisor about whether a payment counts as income, since the FTC generally does not issue 1099 forms.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Gugalcrom123 – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons