How do I contact Apple support and speak to an actual person?

these are the ways I know of to contact them

 Get Support (apple.com)

And or

 Contact - Official Apple

Support

And or

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

Or

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple

Support Options - Apple

If you find you can’t sign in, reset your password, or receive verification codes, you can request account recovery (go to this document: How to use account recovery when you can’t reset your Apple ID password - Apple Support ) to regain access to your account. Account recovery might take a few days or longer, depending on the specific account information you can provide to verify your identity.

"This article provides country-specific Apple Support contact information for customers seeking help with their Apple ID password or other security-related issues." --> Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security - Apple Support I suspect if you call them they will just have you do account recovery.

I tried researching that and it seems that Apple has different menus depending upon your location (I note the article itself does not present a clear pathway either which also indicates that maybe there isn't a single one). All I can advise it that you should be seeing buttons for other options that eventually lead you to an account recovery request. If in the end you cannot find one then call Apple using the number you need from the list.

You need to find the smaller buttons that give you alternatives that ultimately lead to account recovery. If it asks for a trusted number then there's likely a button at the bottom saying "Don't know your trusted number?"