You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Apple ID Recovery HELP!

Firstly, I want to say that I love Apple. Always have, and always will. However, recently I have experience extreme disappointment with an inability to recover my Apple ID as a result of it being hacked, and having the phone number changed on it.


I've had my Apple ID since my first iPhone. Years of purchases, downloads, documents, photos, everything. All now completely inaccessible according to the (literally dozens) of Apple support specialists that I've spoken with. The only solution that they've been able to provide is to wipe my devices (with proof of ownership) to create a new Apple ID.


I have been trying to get my issue resolved literally since June of this year, and am still unable to utilize my device as it's designed. I can't even download or update apps... and whomever now has my Apple ID has access to all my information, data, and is even able to track the location of my devices actively as I'm unable to sign out of my old Apple ID since it was compromised.


This seems like a pretty gaping hole in the support process. As a customer support professional myself, I would definitely want to know if such an unresolvable problem existed. How is there NO alternative method to recover my Apple ID when the hacker changes the 'trusted phone number'? Is this really true?


Any direction or support would be very much appreciated! Thank you!

Posted on Dec 1, 2022 2:39 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 1, 2022 3:20 PM

The people replying here are almost exclusively users like you and nobody on this forum can actually perform services, only advise within the scope of what Apple makes public.


If account recovery isn't working for you then try contacting Apple security.



Similar questions

7 replies

Dec 1, 2022 5:03 PM in response to tannerx53

tannerx53 wrote:

Unfortunately I’m still at a dead end. I get this is the forum of regular users like myself. But, I’m grasping at straws at this point hoping that someone can at least provide me with some advice that doesn’t end in a dead end or a loop. Womp Womp Womp.


Steps to secure and to ease Apple ID recovery (trusted numbers, account recovery contacts, etc) have to be established prior to loss of control.


Here, you have either lost control of your own Apple ID and have been singularly unable to prove and regain ownership, or you’re trying to use available info to socially engineer access into an Apple ID of another—both of which are really the same situation, though with two different causes. We can’t tell which is the case, either.


We all can and should appreciate how seriously Apple treats account security too, though that’s not helpful for your particular efforts here. Whether those are to regain access to your own Apple ID, or to socially engineer access into an Apple ID of another. Again, we don’t know you.


Yes, you are at a dead end. Nobody here can help you, and the folks at Apple clearly remain unconvinced about your identity and any issues of Apple ID ownership provenance, too.


Dec 1, 2022 5:15 PM in response to MrHoffman

I’ve provided all my receipts and documentation to verify ownership. Apple just seemingly lacks the ability to recover my ID or remove the one I’ve lost control from the device even though I’ve demonstrated ownership. I understand what you’re saying in theory. But, when I can literally walk into an Apple Store and demonstrate who I am with many forms of identification, it makes no sense that I can’t get help. I’ve worked in financial services much of my career, and have the ability to help a customer regain access to accounts with millions of dollars… and the most valuable consumer electronic company on the planet can’t help me get my iTunes library? Just seems silly. And beyond that, the person that now has access to my Apple ID can now actively view the location of my devices and my friends that share their location with me because I can’t even sign out of my compromised Apple ID on my devices without being able to reset the password. I still have access to the email on my Apple ID and still have access to the previously trusted number on my ID. Beyond the inability to help, I keep getting provided different “solutions” and it leads me in circles. Just sad to see a company like Apple be so utterly helpless.

Apple ID Recovery HELP!

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.