Indian-American entrepreneur sued in Washington for illegal business practices

iYogi, one of the biggest independent tech support providers in the US, which is run by an Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Dhar has been sued by the Washington State for alleged illegal business practices. The lawsuit claims that it pressurizes consumers into buying unnecessary software.

The company, however, has denied the charges filed in King County Superior Court in Washington as false and baseless.

A statement released by Dhar said that his company "has attained its industry leadership by being customer focused and value driven, and our service is successful because it addresses a genuine need."

The statement was quoted by the Sun Journal, and also reads that the company recognises that tech support frauds are a real issue in the US and as a "responsible industry leader we have been working with authorities in both countries to counter the issue.

In the investigation that was carried out, Attorney General Bob Ferguson found that iYogi associated itself with major technology companies such as Microsoft, Apple and HP in online ads, and when consumers called, its representatives claimed to provide tech-support services on behalf of whatever company the consumer enquired about.

Once they got remote access to the consumer's computer, iYogi identified complex-looking files and told the users that these files were infected and would harm the computer. After this, they proceeded to aggressively sell a tech support plan that would help the user fix the non-existent problems. These plans were sold for USD 140-379.

The company is based out of New York, but has over 5,000 employees with its Indian call centers.

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