U. S. officials have said that federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted three men in an alleged massive bogus software scheme.

the U. S. Justice Department has said that the scheme allegedly caused Internet users in more than 60 countries to buy more than 1 million bogus software products, costing victims $100 million.

The indictment alleges the three defendants, one a Cincinnati area man, the two others believed living abroad, placed fake ads on a variety of legitimate companies' Web sites that deceived Internet users into believing their computers were infected with "malware" or had other critical errors.

The department also said that the "scareware" products had limited or no ability to fix the non-existent defects.

Two of the three defendants, Bjorn Daniel Sundin and Shaileshkumar P. Jain, and others owned and operated Innovative Marketing Inc., a company registered in Belize that purported to sell anti-virus and computer performance/repair software.

The department further said that IM operated a subsidiary called Innovative Marketing Ukraine, located in Kiev. That company appeared to close down last year after the U. S. Federal Trade Commission filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland seeking to end the allegedly fraudulent practices.

The department further said that Jain, 40, is a U. S. citizen and is believed to be living in Ukraine, Sundin, 31, is a Swedish citizen and is believed to be living in that country.

The report also noted that the third defendant, James Reno, 26, of Amelia, Ohio, and others operated the former Byte Hosting Internet Services, which operated call centers that provided technical and billing support to victims on behalf of IM, the department alleged. Reno is expected to present himself for arraignment later in U. S. District Court in Chicago. (With Inputs from Agencies)