So this isn’t
really new news, but I felt it deserving of my attention.
You may have
heard of, or even have been a victim of iYogi “Technical Support”. Several
clients have come to me with different stories, whether it be “This stupid
iYogi thing won’t go away” or “No, I couldn’t possibly be infected because I am
protected by iYogi.” So here’s the breakdown of what you need to know about
iYogi without going into too much detail (because, believe me – there’s A TON
of material on these guys).
iYogi is a
remote tech support company based in Gurgaon, India which once provided end-user
support for major tech companies like Dell and Microsoft. Avast, one of the
companies iYogi provided support for, began receiving complaints from customers
reporting that iYogi was using support calls to aggressively sell annual
subscriptions by telling them their computers were compromised when, in fact,
they weren't.
Since that
time, iYogi has been sued by multiple organizations, individuals and even by
the state of Washington for alleged illegal business practices to pressure
consumers into buying unnecessary software. Dell, along with other major tech
corporations have dropped them and Avast issued refunds to their customers and
also jumped ship.
Many people
have since received phone calls (usually from India) from people claiming they
are from Microsoft to alert users that their computer is infected. They then
try to gain remote access to your computer, and if you allow them, will proceed
to tell you that your machine is riddled with infections.
I have had customers
report that they have spent upwards of $200 with these phone calls before realizing
it was a scam. Though these calls are not all from iYogi, they do participate
in these aggressive, scareware-esque tactics.
Doing a
Google search will yield (aside from a ton of fake websites that all redirect
to iYogi’s page) a ton of negative press from both individuals and major
businesses such as Consumer
Affairs and several posts on the Norton forums regarding scams. According
to many customers on the Norton forums site, iYogi is claiming to sell their
services with Norton, implying a relationship between the companies and a sort
of bundled deal. Norton officials have stressed on several occasions that they
hold no relationship with the software.
Even before
reading up on iYogi, I could tell that the software installed on my client’s
computers was not to be trusted. This all really goes back to my articles on MyCleanPC and PCMatic, but the difference here is the tactics used to sell the same kind of software. These people are praying on innocent ignorance and borderline threatening people into buying their junk software.
So if you ever get a phone call out of nowhere from some angry Indian guy who says your computer is going to explode, call a technician. Call me at 617-396-7044 and check out my website at MooreITHelp.com
