MOSCOW, March 14 - RAPSI. The Moscow police detained a group of alleged hackers who distributed pirate copies of a program for navigation devices; a copyright holder plans to claim compensation of losses, the Interior Ministry's press service reported.

Three hackers modified the program for satellite navigators so that it could be used for free and used a fraudulent scheme to deceive end users.

"The criminals created several Internet web sites to distribute cracked products and presented them as the producer's official websites," the Interior Ministry's representative said.

In order to get access to the program, the users were proposed to send text messages on the phone number, after it a virus application was installed on the mobile telephone. The application sent a message on the swindlers' number every day thus bringing profit to them.

The police officers found that the navigation program was copied from illegal resources more than 38,000 times. The copyright holder said he intends to claim 90 million rubles ($3.05 million) in compensation.

The criminal case against the detainees has been initiated under the Criminal Code's article on the violation of copyright and similar rights on a large scale. Such crimes are punishable by up to six years in prison.