Millions from scareware

US federal prosecutors have filed charges against three men for tricking internet users into buying over 100M dollars of fake security software worldwide.

The three men are alleged to have set up a company called Innovative Marketing, which sold software such as DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and WinFixer –- the latter meant to mislead consumers into associating the bogus software with trusted Microsoft products. The malicious programs were sold for around 50 dollars. The software, dubbed scareware by security experts, scans a user's system, purports to have found malware and then offers to remove it for a price.

Bjorn Daniel Sundin, 31, a U.S. citizen believed to be living in the Ukraine; Shaileshkumar P. Jain, 40, a Swedish citizen thought to be living in Sweden; and James Reno, 26, of Amelia, Ohio, are accused of creating several fake advertising agencies that booked 85,000-dollar worth of legitimate space, which was never paid for. Users clicking on the adverts were redirected to a web site which initiated the scareware selling process. The trio are also alleged to have used the adverts to sell fake pharmaceuticals.

In the period leading up to these indictments, investigators from Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, with the support of Microsoft's Malware Protection Center and Customer Support Services, helped provide data to the FBI on damages caused by the scheme.

If found guilty they face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a 250,000-dollar fine for each case of wire fraud. The authorities are seeking to recover the profits from an Ukrainian bank.

Sources: Microsoft, V3.co.uk.