State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has accused a pair of tanning salon chains of downplaying the risks of indoor tanning. He has claimed that the tanning salons have added benefits that do not exist.

On Thursday, Schneiderman sued Total Tan Inc. and Portofino Spas LLC. He alleged that they both violated state law by advertising false testimonials and claims.

Moreover, his office sent notices to Planet Fitness and Beach Bum Tanning, and warned both that lawsuits were on the way.

The lawsuits, which was filed on Thursday has pointed toward the posts on the companies' websites and social media accounts, touting the benefits of Vitamin D from tanning, including a since-removed testimonial on Total Tan's website from a kidney cancer survivor who claimed that it helped him recover.

In a statement, Schneiderman said, “Make no mistake about it: There is nothing safe about indoor tanning. The use of ultra-violet devices increases exposure to cancer-causing radiation and puts millions of Americans in serious danger — young adults, in particular”.

Total Tan has 26 stores across the state, including salons in Gates, Greece and Penfield in Monroe County, as well as the Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany areas. Portofino couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. It owns a handful of salons in Manhattan.

Total Tan's owners, in a statement, fired back at Schneiderman. The owners accused him of trying to intimidate the stores.

As per the statement distributed by Harris Beach, the Monroe County-based law firm representing Total Tan, Schneiderman's claims against the company were ‘not true’.

According to Total Tan's statement, they are a small, upstate, family-owned business that has refused to be intimidated by Mr. Schneiderman, who has tried to impose his own view of the world on their industry and the citizens of upstate New York.

In 2013, Total Tan filed a complaint with the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics, and claimed that one of Schneiderman's investigators who examined the stores was the spouse of a former Total Tan executive who had been terminated. The company has claimed that it was a conflict of interest.