US Charges Two Latvians in Security Software Scheme

WASHINGTON — Two Latvians have been charged in the United States for selling fake computer security software known as "scareware" and were arrested in Latvia, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.

Peteris Sahurovs, 22, and Marina Maslobojeva, 23, were arrested Tuesday in Latvia and face two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of computer fraud in the United States, the Justice Department said.

As part of the scheme, they tried to trick people into downloading a program which told the users their computers were infected so they would buy anti-virus software for a problem that did not exist, the Justice Department said. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Todd Eastham)