This detection method is carried out after a phase for acquiring a navigation signal during a convergence phase and comprises at least one of the following steps: —determining a plurality of pilot channel periodic correlations and a plurality of data channel periodic correlations, and determining a first value as a function of these periodic correlations; —determining a plurality of pilot channel partial correlations, and determining a second value as a function of these partial correlations; —determining a plurality of shifted pilot channel correlations, and determining a third value as a function of these shifted pilot channel correlations. The convergence phase further comprises the step for determining a wrong synchronization when at least one of the first value, the second value, and the third value exceeds a predetermined threshold.