James Reno, 26, of Amelia, Ohio, was indicted last week by a Chicago grand jury for his part in a fake anti-virus ring that has allegedly cost its victims in excess of $100m, all in $30–$70 increments. This apparently was the asking price to rid infected machines of the supposed malware using fake anti-virus software from Innovative Marketing, a Ukraine- and Belize-based company owned and operated by Reno’s co-defendants, Bjorn Sundin (31) and Shaileshkumar Jain (40).
According to a Justice Department press release, Innovative Marketing appears to have closed up shop and left its former Maryland home after the FTC filed a filed a lawsuit over the firm’s fraudulent anti-virus practices. Sundin and Jain, each who are believed to currently be outside of the US, now face 24 counts of wire fraud, while their American partner, Reno, was indicted on 12 counts of wire fraud.
All three men were also charged with one count each of computer fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud. In addition, the US Attorney is requesting forfeiture of approximately $100m and any and all funds held in a bank account in Kiev.
The scheme outlined by the indictment started with Sundin and Jain approaching legitimate websites, acting as ad reps who were looking to place online ads. According to the Justice Department: “Unknown to the victim companies, the Internet ads that were placed…contained hidden computer code that ‘hijacked’ the Internet browsers of individual victims, redirecting their computers without their consent to websites controlled by Sudin, Jain and others…The individual victims were then prompted with a series of error messages claiming that the user’s computer was experiencing a critical error and the victim needed to purchase an IM-distributed software product to remedy the problem.”
This, announced US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, was how the trio managed to extract more than $100m from its victims using rougue anti-virus, also known as scareware.
As described in the indictment, while Sundin and Jain ran the fake anti-virus end, Reno was responsible for call center services designed to assist victim companies.
“These defendants allegedly preyed on innocent computer users, exploiting their fraudulently induced fears for personal gain,” said Robert Grant, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation. “We will continue our efforts to identify and aggressively investigate similar schemes with the assistance of our law enforcement partners both at home and internationally.”