Cyber Thieves Face Charges After Scamming Millions With Rogue-AntiSpyware

Three cyberthieves have been nabbed after selling rogue antispyware to millions of unwary computer users worldwide.

The men were arrested for selling more than a million copies of bogus malware detection software in more than 60 countries. The trio consisting of an American in the United States, a Swede, and another American living in the Ukraine, allegedly set up a company called Innovative Marketing, based in Kiev. The company was structured with two of the men serving as CEO and CTO to make it seem legitimate.

The scam involved phony malware warnings (or scareware) that popup on the system claiming the user's computer is infected or has "critical errors" that need repairing. These warnings were merely popups designed as online advertisements.

The ads were made compelling enough to convince users that the infections were real, and that the only way to terminate the so-called threats was to use the rogue software the trio were selling. Hapless victims paid money to have these "infections" removed, but of course, there were no infections at all.

The trio was arrested last week when authorities finally caught up with them after more than three years of running the scam. The enormous multinational computer fraud was unraveled and taken down by the U.S. Justice Department.