I’ve run my life and work on a Google Workspace domain for 15 years. Unfortunately, during my 18-month federal prison sentence, the account’s password was changed and recovery email address, too.
I lost access to the admin login as well.
I’ve been through every official support channel, including direct back-and-forth with Google Workspace support. The recovery process hinges on answering historical questions (old admin email, old recovery info) — which, after 15 years, I don’t fully remember.
Even though I still control the domain and can verify my identity with ID, pictures, etc., none of that seems to matter to Google. I have to respect this because it’d be trivial for a bad actor to take over an account. Without those old answers, it seems you’re locked out forever.
This goes well beyond account credentials and extends to personal artifacts that aren’t able to be duplicated.
Has anyone managed to navigate this situation successfully? Or is the lesson that if you lose Workspace admin credentials, even legitimate domain control isn’t enough to regain access?
Any help or advice is appreciated.
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45360512
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Source: news.ycombinator.com
