"Google can't verify account belongs to you"
June 13, 2018 9:47 PM Subscribe
TL;DR
A pin went missing from my hard disk. I have no way to recover the data inside. I deleted KeePass database. I still can't access my Gmail after using the Forgot password?. I've contacted Account Recovery team through the forums, but they couldn't verify the account belongs to me. Could someone help me? Thank you.
I was doing "spring cleaning" and deleted all backups, including KeePass database. I was following the advice from an article that said you'll need everything in one place to efficiently organize things. Unfortunately, my hard disk suddenly stopped working on 9 May 2018. The technician said it was a hardware problem. A pin went missing from the hard disk. My laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad Y580 and is about 6 years old. I doubt you can get Lenovo to fix it.
What I've tried:
*1*
I've started a thread on Gmail forums. The mod sent a private message and asked to submit a form to the Account Recovery team. I received a negative reply:
"Unfortunately, based on the information you provided, we were unable to verify your ownership over the account you escalated."
- Two-step verification enabled on my phone.
- No recovery email. I removed the Yahoo email associated with it, and forgot to add a new one. I have access to the Yahoo email.
- Don't remember the creation date. I cleared the old emails on my Yahoo. My friend lost the password to her Yahoo account. So, no asking for her help.
- I am still logged into the Gmail app on my (non-rooted) phone.
*2*
I found a Keepass database with a Gmail password from 2015, but it didn't work on the Forgot password? form.
*3*
I have tried recovering the password from my Chrome browser (after replacing my hard disk) on laptop and smartphone. I used the Forget password? option.
*4*
I even asked my friend's help, but he kept getting "too many attempts" message. He assured me that you can change the password if you're logged in on the phone. I doubt it'll work.
I really need to recover this email address. I used it for everything important. I can't reset password from the Gmail app if my phone suddenly stopped working.
I am willing to pay to recover my email, but don't know anyone reputable. This is a last resort. Maybe I could get the bank to cancel my debit card attached to Playstore? The card is under the same name as on my profile and some emails correspondence.
I was doing "spring cleaning" and deleted all backups, including KeePass database. I was following the advice from an article that said you'll need everything in one place to efficiently organize things. Unfortunately, my hard disk suddenly stopped working on 9 May 2018. The technician said it was a hardware problem. A pin went missing from the hard disk. My laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad Y580 and is about 6 years old. I doubt you can get Lenovo to fix it.
What I've tried:
*1*
I've started a thread on Gmail forums. The mod sent a private message and asked to submit a form to the Account Recovery team. I received a negative reply:
"Unfortunately, based on the information you provided, we were unable to verify your ownership over the account you escalated."
- Two-step verification enabled on my phone.
- No recovery email. I removed the Yahoo email associated with it, and forgot to add a new one. I have access to the Yahoo email.
- Don't remember the creation date. I cleared the old emails on my Yahoo. My friend lost the password to her Yahoo account. So, no asking for her help.
- I am still logged into the Gmail app on my (non-rooted) phone.
*2*
I found a Keepass database with a Gmail password from 2015, but it didn't work on the Forgot password? form.
*3*
I have tried recovering the password from my Chrome browser (after replacing my hard disk) on laptop and smartphone. I used the Forget password? option.
*4*
I even asked my friend's help, but he kept getting "too many attempts" message. He assured me that you can change the password if you're logged in on the phone. I doubt it'll work.
I really need to recover this email address. I used it for everything important. I can't reset password from the Gmail app if my phone suddenly stopped working.
I am willing to pay to recover my email, but don't know anyone reputable. This is a last resort. Maybe I could get the bank to cancel my debit card attached to Playstore? The card is under the same name as on my profile and some emails correspondence.
Best answer: A pin went missing from the hard disk. My laptop is a Lenovo Ideapad Y580 and is about 6 years old. I doubt you can get Lenovo to fix it.
"A pin went missing" sounds like a euphemism for "we ruined a connector by being a bit ham fisted but we don't want to tell you that". The platters and the heads are probably still fine, and an outfit that actually specializes in hard disk data recovery like Kroll Ontrack could probably get everything back for you, albeit at somewhat vast expense.
Alternatively, you might be able to retrieve a deleted KeePass database from one of your backup disks using a tool like PhotoRec.
posted by flabdablet at 11:21 PM on June 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
"A pin went missing" sounds like a euphemism for "we ruined a connector by being a bit ham fisted but we don't want to tell you that". The platters and the heads are probably still fine, and an outfit that actually specializes in hard disk data recovery like Kroll Ontrack could probably get everything back for you, albeit at somewhat vast expense.
Alternatively, you might be able to retrieve a deleted KeePass database from one of your backup disks using a tool like PhotoRec.
posted by flabdablet at 11:21 PM on June 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
If your hard drive contains a KeePass database with the password, I'd second flabdablet's advice to use a data recovery service, as that'll probably be the most straightforward way out of this mess. Pretty much your only other two options will be to try the account recovery process again, or remember your password, because any other setting you could've used to recover the account (like a recovery email address) requires a password to change. Being logged-in on your phone will not help you recover your password.
(In the future, I would recommend writing the password down and keeping it in a safe place. And it probably goes without saying at this point, but if you can't afford to lose the data, you must back it up in at least one and preferably 2 other places, 'cause sh*t happens.)
posted by Aleyn at 11:45 PM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
(In the future, I would recommend writing the password down and keeping it in a safe place. And it probably goes without saying at this point, but if you can't afford to lose the data, you must back it up in at least one and preferably 2 other places, 'cause sh*t happens.)
posted by Aleyn at 11:45 PM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
In the future, I would recommend writing the password down and keeping it in a safe place
Since we seem to have reached the customary part of an oh-dear-my-horse-has-bolted thread where we discuss stable-door fixtures and fittings, let me put in a word for keeping your KeePass databases on Dropbox as a matter of course, and also keeping a copy that's at least up-to-date enough to include your current Dropbox password on a micro SD card attached to your car keys.
Password management software is good and necessary and everybody should absolutely be using it, but as you've just found, losing a password database hurts.
posted by flabdablet at 6:39 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Since we seem to have reached the customary part of an oh-dear-my-horse-has-bolted thread where we discuss stable-door fixtures and fittings, let me put in a word for keeping your KeePass databases on Dropbox as a matter of course, and also keeping a copy that's at least up-to-date enough to include your current Dropbox password on a micro SD card attached to your car keys.
Password management software is good and necessary and everybody should absolutely be using it, but as you've just found, losing a password database hurts.
posted by flabdablet at 6:39 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was doing "spring cleaning" and deleted all backups, including KeePass database. I was following the advice from an article that said you'll need everything in one place to efficiently organize things.
Also, the author of that article deserves to be slapped with a wet fish. Digital information doesn't really exist unless you can put your actual physical hands on at least two different physical devices that contain copies of it.
If you've gone to the trouble of making backups (which everybody certainly should) then never, never, never deliberately delete the second-last copy of anything. Not even if the primary copy is in the process of being tidied up and the backups are a hideous jumbled mess.
The right way to tidy up a drive is to (a) do a full backup of the existing mess absolutely as-is (b) do your spring cleaning (c) back up the cleaned result. Use different backup media for steps (a) and (c), and don't recycle the step (a) media until you've lived with the tidied-up drive for at least a whole year.
posted by flabdablet at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
Also, the author of that article deserves to be slapped with a wet fish. Digital information doesn't really exist unless you can put your actual physical hands on at least two different physical devices that contain copies of it.
If you've gone to the trouble of making backups (which everybody certainly should) then never, never, never deliberately delete the second-last copy of anything. Not even if the primary copy is in the process of being tidied up and the backups are a hideous jumbled mess.
The right way to tidy up a drive is to (a) do a full backup of the existing mess absolutely as-is (b) do your spring cleaning (c) back up the cleaned result. Use different backup media for steps (a) and (c), and don't recycle the step (a) media until you've lived with the tidied-up drive for at least a whole year.
posted by flabdablet at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2018 [5 favorites]
He assured me that you can change the password if you're logged in on the phone. I doubt it'll work.
It won't (source: me. Just tried it. You need to enter in your current password).
I think that every solution is going to require a working email address or knowledge of some of the information you claim you don't have. I'm sure you've tried this, but the very first email I received on gmail was a "Hey, you created a gmail account" email. I never deleted it because, why bother? I assume you've tried scrolling way back to the first email you sent/received to see if it provides a clue to the creation date?
Other than data recovery, I think you may have to accept that your account is kaput.
Try forwarding email to an new account and then methodically redirect people to that account. Your bank, friends, everything. You can do this over time, because you still have your old account, but you should consider it dead.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
It won't (source: me. Just tried it. You need to enter in your current password).
I think that every solution is going to require a working email address or knowledge of some of the information you claim you don't have. I'm sure you've tried this, but the very first email I received on gmail was a "Hey, you created a gmail account" email. I never deleted it because, why bother? I assume you've tried scrolling way back to the first email you sent/received to see if it provides a clue to the creation date?
Other than data recovery, I think you may have to accept that your account is kaput.
Try forwarding email to an new account and then methodically redirect people to that account. Your bank, friends, everything. You can do this over time, because you still have your old account, but you should consider it dead.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you for your answers :-) I don't think there's a best answer, 'cos all the replies have been helpful. I posted the same question on another forum. Only two people replied, including the same mod from Gmail forums, haha.
How do you do that on your phone?
posted by guan_sl91 at 8:37 AM on June 16, 2018
I don’t have any advice for recovering the password, but if you’re logged in on your phone, you can at least set a rule to forward emails to an address you control, so you won’t miss out on emails in the event you are completely locked out of the account.
How do you do that on your phone?
The platters and the heads are probably still fine, and an outfit that actually specializes in hard disk data recovery like Kroll Ontrack could probably get everything back for you, albeit at somewhat vast expense.I sent my hard disk to a data recovery service. The team will inform on Monday if they can recover the data.
(In the future, I would recommend writing the password down and keeping it in a safe place. And it probably goes without saying at this point, but if you can't afford to lose the data, you must back it up in at least one and preferably 2 other places, 'cause sh*t happens.)
Since we seem to have reached the customary part of an oh-dear-my-horse-has-bolted thread where we discuss stable-door fixtures and fittings, let me put in a word for keeping your KeePass databases on Dropbox as a matter of course, and also keeping a copy that's at least up-to-date enough to include your current Dropbox password on a micro SD card attached to your car keys.Lesson learned. So, in your notebook, Dropbox, and a micro SD.
The right way to tidy up a drive is to (a) do a full backup of the existing mess absolutely as-is (b) do your spring cleaning (c) back up the cleaned result. Use different backup media for steps (a) and (c), and don't recycle the step (a) media until you've lived with the tidied-up drive for at least a whole year.Thanks for your suggestion. There's too many how-to articles that it gets confusing, ha.
I assume you've tried scrolling way back to the first email you sent/received to see if it provides a clue to the creation date?I tried entering the date in recovery form but it didn't work.
Try forwarding email to an new account and then methodically redirect people to that account. Your bank, friends, everything. You can do this over time, because you still have your old account, but you should consider it dead.Is there a way to forward multiple emails at once using Gmail app?
posted by guan_sl91 at 8:37 AM on June 16, 2018
I've documented my preferred way of doing permanent Gmail forward-everything-new-and-don't-look-back here. I haven't used the app, but I would expect it to be as competent at setting up message filters as the web interface is.
Unfortunately, Gmail filters just silently fail to perform any specified forwarding action when applied to existing messages; forwarding only works when filtering incoming messages.
posted by flabdablet at 9:28 AM on June 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Unfortunately, Gmail filters just silently fail to perform any specified forwarding action when applied to existing messages; forwarding only works when filtering incoming messages.
posted by flabdablet at 9:28 AM on June 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by AaRdVarK at 10:27 PM on June 13, 2018 [4 favorites]