Feds Seize $15 Million in Scareware Money

US federal authorities seized almost $15 million from a Swiss bank account associated with a fugitive scareware peddler indicted in US since 2008.

The Swiss government transferred $14.8 million to the United States on May 31 in accordance with a federal seizure warrant issued in New York.

The money was stored in an investment account and are believed to belong to Shaileshkumar Jain, aka Sam Jain, a known scareware distributor.

Jain was originally indicted in March 2008 for trafficking in counterfeit goods, wire fraud and mail fraud. He became a fugitive in January 2009 after he failed to appear in court for two scheduled hearings.

In 2010 he was also indicted with money laundering after transferring proceeds of cyber crime through a series of overseas shell companies he set up.

Sam Jain was one of the executive officers of a company called Innovative Marketing which specialized in posting scareware ads on websites.

According to the authorities, the gang behind the operation made tens of millions of dollars by selling fake antivirus software. The feds previously managed to seize $650,000 from two US accounts associated with the scheme.

Among the scareware applications sold by Jain and his accomplices were WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, WinAntispyware, ErrorProtector, ErrorSafe, SystemDoctor, AdvancedCleaner, Antivirus XP, and XP Antivirus 2008.

Inovative Marketing, along with its past officers, Daniel Sundin, Sam Jain, Kristy Ross, and Marc D'Souza, were also named as defendants in a complaint filed by the FTC in December 2008.

In January this year, Marc D'Souza and his father, Maurice D’Souza, both of Canadian nationality, agreed to pay $8.2 million in order to settle charges. James Reno and his company Bytehosting Internet Services, who provided hosting services for the operation also settled, while Daniel Sundin and Sam Jain had default judgements entered against them.