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Tried to update the maps on my Garmin sat nav. My PC didn't recognise the sat nav so I looked up the official Garmin website and got into their chatroom.

This had obviously been hacked because after a few minutes of chat I was told a technician would ring me top sort this out.

He did ring and proceeded to tell me that my PC was infected with malware/spyware and this was stopping it from recognising my sat nav.

I knew this to be untrue because I run Bitdefender anti-virus and only 2 hours previously it had done a complete system scan and declared my PC "clean".

He also told me that my Microsoft Windows Firewall licence had expired - I also knew that to be untrue - THEY DON'T EXPIRE !!

At this point I put down the phone and switched off the PC and router.

Nobody rang me back or emailed me to ask why !!!

BE VERY AWARE as I believe they mess up your PC so badly that they then ask for money to put it right.

GARMIN have either been hacked or seem to have somebody working on their chatline that is passing phone number etc. over to the scammers.

Cannot contact GARMIN until Monday morning as this happened late Friday afternoon.

Reason of review: BEEN SCAMMED.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

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Guest

I was contacted by "cipoapp"!! Same deal - technician called - wanted to obtain access to my computer - that is when I said NO.

I've been hacked before. I only wanted to DL the Garmin Express onto my computer to use when I needed updates, it automatically brought this company up on my screen. BTW, when I told the tech I tried to find their company on-line NOTHING came up.

He assured me, I am telling You, so that was not the answer I was looking for! What the.....?

Guest

Hi, I have just tried to update a Nuvi satnav that was bought as a present about 4 years ago but due to ill health etc I have just got around to using it. I couldn't update it manually so asked for online help with Garmin, they then gave me the option of £100 for 1 year or £159 for lifetime at this point I pointed out what was on the product box-free lifetime map updates and their answer was that the software on my brand new never been used device had expired and was no longer eligible for free updates, I think this is diabolical and surely must infringe the trade description act in some way.

They say it only includes what they term as the useful life of the device. I will never ever buy Garmin again and make sure all my friends know about this as well.

Mychelle Npz

I posted about this same scam about a year ago. Since then I have contacted Garmin a few times to tell them about this scam.

product.support@***.com ...Garmin seems to not be interested in doing anything about this problem. :(

Guest

Garmin Update !!This just happened to me they took over my computer installed viruses I had exactly the same story Re: can't update as Firewalls stopping the update, removed any protection that I had and stole money from my account. I had previously paid for a lifetime updates but they proceeded to ask for another $99 to update this would be the final payment.

Guest

It exactly happened to me. The same scenario about MS Firewall, but asked 199.99$ for twoyears subsciption.

Kalif Kye

Seems to be an ongoing scam. Bought new Honda here in Canada in 2017 with 5 yrs of free upgrades on navigation system.

Trying for about 2 years. No way says Garmin. You can only replace software for free. Apparently, you can purchase an update later this year.

you may get different excuses. Current information in print says 5 years very clearly.

Saud Uqw

I too had the same experience. I thought I was on the garmin site but obviously it was a scam site.

They did the same to me .They wanted acess to my computer and at first I felt this was wrong so I hung up. I called another number but ended up getting the same site. They assured me it was truely garmin so I allowed access. Right off the back they showed me that all my drivers were corrupted and they would get a tech to repair.

I knew something was up then because I just has my security updated a week ago.

I told them I was going to contact the geek squad which I did and they could find nothing wrong with my computer, I found the true Garmin.com site and was able to update my maps. Beware

Guest

same thing happened to me after chatting with a Garmin support person. This guys mission was to sell me a $400/3 years subscription anti malware. GARMIN will hear about this *** I think they know about it, because they are receiving kick backs from the scammers.

Guest

Yep, just happened to me. When he told me I had to pay over $100 to update my Garmin, I asked what website I needed to do that on.

Then I told him nvm I don't want to pay that and he got mad at me LOL. ***

Guest

I think they just did the same thing to me.

Miles Rej

Same situ just happened to me. First My Nuvi 2555 told me it needed updated.

I googled how to do it and got what looked like a legit Garmin site asking me for the S/N of my Nuvi which i gave him. Then he told me I would be getting a call from a Tech who would help me download the new "drivers and so forth" that were proving incompatible with WIN 10 and that he needed to get into my computer to fix things! WTF? NO WAYI MR MAN FROM INDIA!

I ran like a scalded cat. BE VERY AWARE! I said to him "Last year I just uploaded the maps and now i have to CHAT first with a TECH and then get a FONE CALL to do it?

EFF YOIU! Be warned!

Guest

My father in law too was scammed by these same individuals with a very similar story. They didn't ever solve any problems for his Garmin GPS and ended up selling him Malwarebytes software for $99US.

I'm not positive but last time I checked, Malwarebytes was a free antivirus software. I called them back to complain to try and get my money back but was hung up on and now my number must be blocked as I never get through anymore. They were able to take control of his computer and so now I'm worried that it's compromised. I was able to solve my father in laws problem by simply changing the cable.

It was one of those cables that only charges as opposed to transferring data. This is definitely a lesson learned and hopefully these guys are stopped for the fraudulent activity they are committing.

Mychelle Npz

I too was subjected to the exact same thing! I was attempting to update my Garmin gps.

I called Garmin because I was having difficulty getting the update via Garmin web site. Someone at Garmin answered and tried to help me....BUT only for seconds! This young female 'helper' then immediately said I need to put you in touch with the tech experts...then apparently forwarded my call to Bangladesh or somewhere? I believed it was all on the up + up and related to Garmin Corp.

In the end they convinced me I needed to pay them about $200.00. This was about one year ago. I cancelled that credit card since.

In the past 4 days or so they have called me to renew. (No emails!) I told them they will not be screwing me again, yet they continue to call.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Mychelle Npz

True. Me too.

Guest

I had the same thing happen on 1/27/2021 they said they could see my Garmin unit but needed to check why it would not download. They asked to type in TeamViewer into my browser this gave them access to my computer.

They then downloaded Magican and said this was needed to clear the problem. The said the charge would be either $199.00 for one year or I could pay more for 2 or 3 years to protect from people getting into my IP address by blocking my address .

I refused and he became angry when I said I needed to check this out before agreeing to this. He said to call him back, watch out for them they are really clever, and you think you are talking to Garmin but you are not.

Mychelle Npz
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1977554

Me too. Same thing.

I just posted a comment about this a few mins ago. Somebody at Garmin is a scammer.

Guest

i was billed 919.98 on my master card byvcawebsoft inc. ,was told windows@***s expiered ,wa phoneded by garmin teck allen waug who took control off my computer, will not download free maps on wy gps until i pay,very convicing same as pissed consumer bank canelled my debt. card@ mast er cardr,told me i was scamed,no idea wh at else i s done to my computer.iam a seinior feels violated.

Guest

I'd been getting a message that my maps were out of date. I'd previously used GarminMapUpdater_v3.3.4 but it had stopped working.

A search took me to Garminmapsupdate.org that I thought was Garmin. The download of their update repeatedly failed at 65%. Their chat wanted my name, email address, and phone number so that a technician could walk me through it. "Max Hendry(?)" promptly called me.

The CID read 224-296-**** and Max said he was calling from Chicago at x235. Max had an Indian accent, which is a red flag. He wanted me to enter www.latestmapupdates.com in the Run box. That didn't work but I tried entering it as a Chrome address and went to a page where I could download Team Viewer, Ultra Viewer, or two others.

This said that he's going to try to get me to let him have remote access to my computer, a HUGE red flag. I downloaded Ultra Viewer but didn't install it, indicating that before doing so I'd need to independently confirm who he is, want to know exactly what he's going to do, and need an explanation of why I couldn't do it myself. During the course of all that it came out that my computer runs Windows XP and that I might be able to update one of my computers to Windows 10 but it would take at least a month. At that point he abruptly hung up.

Later I reached Garmin at Garmin.com (I think). They said that they never use remote access. I tried calling Max's number but got a machine. I'm annoyed that Google allows these scammers to pay so that their sites appear near the top of the search hit list, actually higher than Garmin.

By accepting money, they have a responsibility to ensure that the hit is legitimate. The Ultra Viewer download has been deleted.

Guest

My Dad just had the same scam....and the caller already had complete control over his computer....he removed Dad's security....Dad has pulled his router out but I imagine his computer has been ghosted - my parents are in their 80's and in Lockdown - Tomtom FB page hasn't had a single update on it's Support Page since April 2019.....disgusting.

Guest

This just happened to my s/o today. Fortunately, after listening to the interesting exchange between s/o and the hacker, I knew something was amiss.

He only wanted access to a Windows computer (which we rarely use), said it had been hacked, didn’t want a credit card, wanted checking account information instead, and then wanted access to every device. I googled scam and put a stop these shenanigans. The number “Chris Martin” gave s/o didn’t belong to Garmin, of course, and the scammer actually had the audacity to cal back when we didn’t call him.

I agree: Garmin needs to fix this issue. I shudder to think about the potential implications for all the data the scammer could have stole.

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