Russian Police Arrest Navigation Software Pirates

The Russian police have recently arrested three residents of Saratov, southern Russia, for illegal distribution of navigation software and copyright infringement.

The suspects allegedly registered numerous websites to sell the cracked Navitel software, GPS navigation software produced in Russia, at prices many times lower than the original, causing the software owners more than EUR 2.3 million (USD 3 million) in damages.

The suspects asked the online visitors to send an SMS message at a cost of EUR 8 (USD 11) in order to receive a hacker-installed key for the software. The software also contained a virus instigating smart phones on which it was installed to secretly send a message to an SMS service, resulting in extra charges for the users.

The software piracy case came to the attention of the police in October 2011 and a criminal investigation was opened in February 2012.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Online newspaper The Moscow News