“Independent” support hotlines and how to deal with them (updated: who is in the picture?)

Posted By: Sorin Mustaca July 18, 2018

I got contacted by “Anatha anatha”, a support specialist ( :))) – can’t stop laughing) who is offering “free” support to Avira Antivirus customers.

As the description says, they are “an independent Support Provider for Avira Antivirus” and they have a free telephone number (+ 49-800-181-0338) for all customers in Germany.

A simple search for that number gives you: A LOT of activity online.

There are videos on Youtube, there are pictures on Flickr and there is even a website: http://www.supportaviranummer.com

If you look at this website, it is half in German and half in English.

Yes, they even have a Refund Policy : http://www.supportaviranummer.com/refund-policy.html

So, if it is “free”, why is there a refund policy? 🙂

If you look at the whois information, you see that it is actually owned by an Indian company “Y.E.C.A. COMPUTERS”:

Registrant Name: Y.E.C.A. COMPUTERS
Registrant Organization: Y.E.C.A. COMPUTERS
Registrant Street: 111, SHIVPURI, PATEL NAGAR, NEAR CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA
Registrant City: Kanpur
Registrant State/Province: Uttar Pradesh
Registrant Postal Code: 208007
Registrant Country: IN
Registrant Phone: +91.8081810673
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +91.8081989024
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:

The domain is fresh:

Creation Date: 2018-03-30T14:28:49Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-03-30T14:28:49Z

So, why are they doing that?

Are there also such services for other AV producers?

Let’s see:

http://supportsymantecnummer.com/ : NO

http://supportbitdefendernummer.com/ : NO

http://supportkasperskynummer.com/ : NO

http://supportmcafeenummer.com/ : NO

… well … I guess Avira deserves special attention.

As for the nice lady in the picture, it is just stock photo. On the website above there are even more of these.

Update: This is actually the known actress Bettina Zimmermann and the photo is taken from here: https://www.gala.de/stars/party/preisverleihung–deutscher-filmpreis-2008_20385728-20385642.html

What did I do with the LinkedIn request? Report as fake and Block!

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Sorin Mustaca

Sorin Mustaca, (ISC)2 CSSLP, CompTIA Security+ and Project+, is working since over 20 years in the IT Security industry and worked between 2003-2014 for Avira as Product Manager for the known products used by over 100 million users world-wide. Today he is CEO and owner of Endpoint Cybersecurity GmbH focusing on Cybersecurity, secure software development and security for IoT and Automotive. He is also running his personal blog Sorin Mustaca on Cybersecurity and is the author of the free eBook Improve your security .