USA Today
Federal authorities have filed criminal charges against three men they say duped tens of thousands of consumers into paying more than $100 million for worthless antivirus protection, priced from $30 to $70.
A Chicago grand jury returned an indictment against Bjorn Daniel Sundin, 31, a U.S. citizen believed to be living in the Ukraine; Shaileshkumar P. Jain, 40, a Swedish citizen believed to be living in Sweden; and James Reno, 26, of Amelia, Ohio.
The three are alleged to have helped operate an online company, called Innovative Marketing, registered in Belize, that sold worthless antivirus suites with names like "DriveCleaner" and "ErrorSafe."
The indictment "sends an important message that U.S. authorities in cooperation with foreign governments will not allow scams to go unpunished," says Chet Wisniewski, analyst at antivirus firm Sophos.
According to the indictment, Sundin, Jain and others created at least seven fictitious advertising agencies that placed ads worth $85,000 with legit website publishers; the ads were never paid for. Consumers who clicked on the ads were redirected to websites controlled by Innovative Marketing that ran fake scans and steered victims into buying worthless cleanups and innoculations.
Justice officials said Reno is expected to turn himself in to authorities in Chicago. They say Reno ran Byte Hosting Internet, a call center that took calls from consumers inquiring about billing and technical help. Reno's attorney, Carl Clavelli, of Chicago, could not be reached.
Along with spam pitching fake drugs, online promotions for worthless antivirus software are two of the cyber-underground's biggest money makers, security experts say. "This is just one of many scareware scams, and we absolutely believe that this business will continue to grow," says Kevin Stevens, a researcher at SecureWorks.
A Chicago grand jury returned an indictment against Bjorn Daniel Sundin, 31, a U.S. citizen believed to be living in the Ukraine; Shaileshkumar P. Jain, 40, a Swedish citizen believed to be living in Sweden; and James Reno, 26, of Amelia, Ohio.
The three are alleged to have helped operate an online company, called Innovative Marketing, registered in Belize, that sold worthless antivirus suites with names like "DriveCleaner" and "ErrorSafe."
The indictment "sends an important message that U.S. authorities in cooperation with foreign governments will not allow scams to go unpunished," says Chet Wisniewski, analyst at antivirus firm Sophos.
According to the indictment, Sundin, Jain and others created at least seven fictitious advertising agencies that placed ads worth $85,000 with legit website publishers; the ads were never paid for. Consumers who clicked on the ads were redirected to websites controlled by Innovative Marketing that ran fake scans and steered victims into buying worthless cleanups and innoculations.
Justice officials said Reno is expected to turn himself in to authorities in Chicago. They say Reno ran Byte Hosting Internet, a call center that took calls from consumers inquiring about billing and technical help. Reno's attorney, Carl Clavelli, of Chicago, could not be reached.
Along with spam pitching fake drugs, online promotions for worthless antivirus software are two of the cyber-underground's biggest money makers, security experts say. "This is just one of many scareware scams, and we absolutely believe that this business will continue to grow," says Kevin Stevens, a researcher at SecureWorks.
