diff --git a/verify_tor_utils.py b/verify_tor_utils.py
index a0d67f93bae97a5f9b55429267eeb801a7b93b27..1196fc4127eca14ec9c0598433ab4f460cba3015 100755
--- a/verify_tor_utils.py
+++ b/verify_tor_utils.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def verify(version, platform):
     # download reference binary
     os.makedirs(REF_DIR, exist_ok=True)
     file_name = get_final_file_name(versions, platform)
-    ref_file = os.path.join(REF_DIR, file_name)
+    ref_file = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(REF_DIR, os.path.basename(file_name)))
     # try downloading from maven central
     check_call(['wget', '--no-verbose', get_url(versions, platform), '-O', ref_file])