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I got locked out of my Google account for a month

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Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#51

Post by BenjiWiebe »

jstarfish wrote: post #41
dingo_bat wrote: post #35

To avoid such things, I have a notebook in my drawer in which I have all the passwords to all my online accounts written down. If I change a password, I update the entry. If I create any sort of online account, it gets added to the diary. I figured if someone bothered enough to physically steal my diary from my drawer, I'd have bigger problems to worry about than my YouTube credentials.

I'm currently locked out of a Gmail account I have the password for but Google decided that isn't enough; it doesn't like my IP address and wants me to verify against a phone number I no longer have.

So I guess the diary should include a history of phone numbers. And maybe addresses to be safe.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#52

Post by BenjiWiebe »

jstarfish wrote: post #41
dingo_bat wrote: post #35

To avoid such things, I have a notebook in my drawer in which I have all the passwords to all my online accounts written down. If I change a password, I update the entry. If I create any sort of online account, it gets added to the diary. I figured if someone bothered enough to physically steal my diary from my drawer, I'd have bigger problems to worry about than my YouTube credentials.

I'm currently locked out of a Gmail account I have the password for but Google decided that isn't enough; it doesn't like my IP address and wants me to verify against a phone number I no longer have.

Oh wait, missed that you needed access to the number. I thought it was just prompting you for the number.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#53

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

lazyjones wrote: post #39

Sounds like either Google is a terrible company with useless customer service and dysfunctional standard procedures, or known journalists and bloggers immediately set off alarms when they use this recovery mechanism because there has been too much negative press about social engineering leading to account theft recently. I.e. perhaps they wanted to prove that his account is safe from cheap tricks.

Free Gmail users aren't customers.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#55

Post by nasredin »

bitmapbrother wrote: post #50
oxplot wrote: post #33

> Imagine you have spent much of your digital life for the last 12 years on Google. You rely on their mail and calendar, Google Drive for storage and Google Photos for your photo archive. Like I've said in the past here [1], if something is so important to you, you need to treat it as such. Continuing to use a service that offers no guarantees, availability or even continuing access to your account is a sign of ignor…

>Like I've said in the past here, if something is so important to you, you need to treat it as such. Which is why you use a password manager and keep a copy of your Google account backup codes in the event you need them.

Google can lock you out of your account even if you have the right password.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#56

Post by mehrdadn »

perl4ever wrote: post #26
Shoothe wrote: post #2

> On December 5th, I sent a note to a PR contact who I work with on Google-related news and I told him about my problem. He said he had gotten my case escalated and I should hear within 24 hours. Sadly in all these stories that end successfully there is an inside help from someone that has contacts in Google. I don't even want to think about what would happen to people that don't know anyone inside Google.

I used my work email as my backup for my gmail account, and thus could not retrieve my password after I left that job (on good terms even, but they would not let me use my old email). Having access to my android phone tied to the gmail account helped not at all. I tried the gmail password retrieval system repeatedly, but could not get it to recognize me even though I had an archive of much of my email, so I thought I…

Please tell me you've at least set up the email forwarding and "send-as" features so that you can send/receive via that account from another account if you ever want to? And on that note, maybe also set up an application-specific password if it allows you to do this without entering a password? (Though MAKE SURE to test this on your new account to make sure it doesn't lock you out with a password prompt if you attempt this.)

(Although note that if you do this via Gmail it will leak your sending email address in the headers.)

Also, I think you might be able to retrieve the rest of your emails too. You might not have IMAP access, but at worst, you can write Google Scripts and have then upload your emails to another account. It will be rather slow but you should be able to copy all your emails this way. I don't think it should prompt you for a password when giving permission but I'm not sure; again, test this on your new account before trying. Make sure to wait like half an hour to make sure any internal password prompt timers expire.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#58

Post by nasredin »

donalhunt wrote: post #8

Google (and other companies) are purposely opaque about how they determine whether you have provided enough information to verify you are the owner of the account... Getting it wrong has significant impact on how much the brand is trusted (and for some companies, that's all they have)... Lose it and it's time to shutter! To be fair to Google, they do regularly prompt users to review the security of their account (e.g…

They always seem to want phone numbers, which in a lot of countries are easily attributable to real people.

One more time the "techbros" of Silicon Valey don't realize their actions are hurting people.

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#59

Post by codeisawesome »

WovenTales wrote: post #36
hartator wrote: post #29

I don't know. It might be a unpopular opinion, but I am okay to be locked out if I forgot my password to my email. I prefer that to weaken security, and complex processes to sign in.

If that were all that could do it, sure. That's not the end of it, though. I was trying out anonymization methods a while back, and created an account for use through Tor + a VPN (yes, I know it's Google). I recently tried to get back into it, but since I wasn't "where I usually sign in" (and can't actually say what city they thought that was), I'm locked out. I have the correct password in my manager, and I can even…

This is very surprising - what of people who like to travel??

Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month

#60

Post by raverbashing »

guu wrote: post #57

Does anyone have experience with g suite's support (paid gmail) and how it would compare in the same situation?

You get a phone number you can call. But the person behind that phone seems to only be allowed to get your case on the support system
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