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Forum Discussion
endjed2
Aug 18, 2022Aspirant
Question to Netgear resulted in an attempted scam
I googled a question about a problem I had with my Roku TV after installing a new Netgear Router. Someone must have interecepted my query and told me he was from Netgear and would help me. Thinking he was a legitimate employee of Netgear, I let him access my computer remotely. He showed me a long list in safe mode of all these infections, etc. Since he said the issues were too complicated for him, someone from Cisco would help me. That man said it would cost me $149 to fix the issues on my network. When I protested, he reduced the fee to $99. Fortunately, I realized this was a scam and cancelled everything and changed passwords, etc. What he showed me in safe mode was not on my computer. I reported the issue to Netgear but never heard back from them.
4 Replies
Not sure if you will hear from NG however you did the right thing.
Where did you query and what did you use to query your search? Did you pick up on a web site?
NG will never initiate a phone call to anyone. Users have to contact NG official support first on there own before NG would contact someone.
What NG router model do you have?
- endjed2Aspirant
I wish I knew how I got connected with this phony person, but I do not know now. My router is model R6080. I was able to fix the Roku TV issue myself after I got rid of this scammer.
Good work realizing it was a scam early enough.
If you did give him access, might be worth actually doing a scan on your computer or a reinstall to make sure they didn't install something.
To get a hold of support for future reference. Click on "MyNetgear" at the top.
Register an account (or login) and then the device.
From there you can start the support process. Keep in mind that its only free for the first 90 days of purchase.If you're outside of that window, the community support forum on here is pretty solid.
endjed2 wrote:
I googled a question about a problem I had with my Roku TV after installing a new Netgear Router. Someone must have interecepted my query and told me he was from Netgear and would help me.
Scamsters buy ad space in Google, which is happy to take their money so that you can be robbed. The scammers then post contact details that pretend to be Netgear. Some even use Netgear's logos.
I reported the issue to Netgear but never heard back from them.How did you do that? If you have details of the scammer, there are ways of shaming Netgear into action. After all, it has a reputation to protect. The scammers just want your money.
Do you have a web address or phone number you called?
Rest assured that you are not the first person to have been conned. Victims turn up here regularly.