Another account lost in the Google void – how many are there?
One day one of my old accounts received a HaveIbeenPwned notification that it appeared in a hacked email list.
Like a good citizen I changed my password to a new, secure, unique password. In addition I set up 2FA with Google Authenticator.
The phone broke, with it the Google Authenticator access and the not full, synced password list I had.
My fault for loosing the password. My fault for not printing single use codes ahead of time. But I do remember at least one of the old passwords. The recovery email and recovery phone number are still in my possession. And yet - I can't get access to the old account anymore. No matter what I try, there's nothing I can do to prove to Google's recovery wizard that the account is mine.
The help forums are filled with posts of this or a similar style, the only advice being to use the wizard, or create a new account. No chance to recover the email account with my name and plenty of old contacts.
After trying for weeks, even digging out and repairing my old laptop just for a better chance to restore it, I give up.
My takeaway is to move everything out of Google before it's too late. Luckily that account didn't have my 200+GB of photos or old work documents, but the next one I lose might.
How many of the m/billions of Gmail accounts are by now inaccessible? How come such a gigantic company can't find a way to prevent such ridiculous reasons for account loss?