A U.S. district court has issued a temporary halt to a massive "scareware" scheme in which makers of bogus security software and services falsely claimed that their scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers' computers.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the scheme has tricked more than 1 million consumers into buying computer security products with names such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. The court also froze the assets of those responsible for the scheme to preserve the possibility of giving back some money to the scam's victims.

The FTC says the defendants used an elaborate ruse that duped Internet advertising networks and popular Web sites into carrying their advertisements. The defendants falsely claimed they were placing Internet advertisements on behalf of legitimate companies and organizations.

But thanks to hidden programming code that the defendants inserted into the advertisements, consumers who visited Websites where these ads were placed did not receive them. Instead, they received exploitive advertisements that took them to one of the defendants' Websites, the complaint states.

These redirected sites would then claim to scan the consumers' computers for security and privacy issues, the FTC says. The scans would find a host of purported problems with the consumers' computers, and then urge them to buy the defendants' computer security products for $39.95 or more. "However, the scans were entirely false," the complaint states.

The two companies charged in the case -- Innovative Marketing and ByteHosting Internet Services -- operate using a variety of aliases and maintain offices in various countries. Innovative Marketing is a company incorporated in Belize that maintains offices in Kiev, Ukraine. ByteHosting Internet Services is based in Cincinnati.

The complaint alleges that these two companies -- along with individuals Daniel Sundin, Sam Jain, Marc D'Souza, Kristy Ross, and James Reno -- violated the FTC Act by falsely claiming to have conducted scans of consumers' computers and detected a variety of security or privacy issues, including viruses, spyware, system errors, and pornography. The complaint also names a sixth individual, Maurice D'Souza, as a relief defendant who received proceeds from the scheme.

Last week, the FTC received a temporary restraining order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Under its terms, the defendants are barred from falsely representing that they have run any type of computer analysis, or that they have detected security or privacy problems on a consumer's computer. They also are barred from using domain names obtained with false or incomplete information, placing advertisements on behalf of a third party, or otherwise attempting to conceal their own identities.

The order also mandates that companies hosting the defendants' Websites and providing domain-registration services take steps to keep consumers from accessing these Web sites.

The FTC is seeking to permanently bar the defendants from engaging in scareware marketing. The FTC also asked the court to order the defendants to compensate the consumers "or otherwise give up their ill-gotten gains."

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