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Any way I can get back into my PSN account (phone stolen/2FA issue)?

djshauny1

djshauny1

Member
Oct 27, 2017
887
My phone was stolen so I had to get a new number. The 2FA was for the number that was stolen. Im unable to log into PSN. I called customer support and the needed either :

1. An email from PlayStation where I purchased something on the store - I don't have any emails.
2. First and last 4 digits of my bank account card number - My old card expired before xmas and I have a new card. The old card was cut up and binned.
3.The serial of the console where I made the account - That was years ago on my PS3. I don't have that console anymore.

I had backup codes for 2FA but they were on the phone that was stolen.

I've spent thousands over the years with Sony/Playstation and don't really want to lose my account.

Is there anything I can do Era?

I'm in the UK if that helps.

Thanks
 
Dermee

Dermee

Member
Dec 16, 2017
162
You may be able to contact your bank and or credit card company and get your old credit card number
 
ProstatePuncher

ProstatePuncher

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,800
djshauny1 said:
My phone was stolen so I had to get a new number. The 2FA was for the number that was stolen. Im unable to log into PSN. I called customer support and the needed either :

1. An email from PlayStation where I purchased something on the store - I don't have any emails.
2. First and last 4 digits of my bank account card number - My old card expired before xmas and I have a new card. The old card was cut up and binned.
3.The serial of the console where I made the account - That was years ago on my PS3. I don't have that console anymore.

I had backup codes for 2FA but they were on the phone that was stolen.

I've spent thousands over the years with Sony/Playstation and don't really want to lose my account.

Is there anything I can do Era?

I'm in the UK if that helps.

Thanks
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Without that info, you're probably rekt.

How did you store the backup codes? You could perhaps access them via a PC if it was via Evernote, Google Drive or something like that.

Maybe you can speak to your email provider to retrieve any deleted email receipts from purchases you made?
 
Soulflarz

Soulflarz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
Bundy said:
Why tho? :/ You can't login with your PS4?
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.

Like
If you dont have your password
A serial number
A 2fa device
A credit card proving it was you


They SHOULDNT be giving you the account. This would lead to giant social engineering issues. Flip the scenario to "can I get my friends psn account? I have his password but he has 2fa, how do I get past that?"
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,955
djshauny1 said:
My phone was stolen so I had to get a new number. The 2FA was for the number that was stolen. Im unable to log into PSN. I called customer support and the needed either :

1. An email from PlayStation where I purchased something on the store - I don't have any emails.
2. First and last 4 digits of my bank account card number - My old card expired before xmas and I have a new card. The old card was cut up and binned.
3.The serial of the console where I made the account - That was years ago on my PS3. I don't have that console anymore.

I had backup codes for 2FA but they were on the phone that was stolen.

I've spent thousands over the years with Sony/Playstation and don't really want to lose my account.

Is there anything I can do Era?

I'm in the UK if that helps.

Thanks
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When I had to get into an old account of mine (basically had the same roadblocks as you, couldn't TFA because I didn't have that phone anymore), the customer support agent was still able to help me. I used the online text chat support though.
Basically he eventually asked me what billing addresses I most recently used on the account. After he verified that, he asked me to list off games that I had purchased digitally before. I was able to do so, and he gave me access to my account again. EDIT: I'm pretty sure I supplied him with my old password, as well.
 
Soulflarz

Soulflarz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
Solid said:
When I had to get into an old account of mine (basically had the same roadblocks as you), the customer support agent was still able to help me. I used the online text chat support though.

Basically he eventually asked me what billing addresses I most recently used on the account. After he verified that, he asked me to list off games that I had purchased digitally before. I was able to do so and he gave me access to my account again.
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Not gonna lie that info is really easy to get if youve ever stolen an account, thats actually awful for any customer that has their info stolen and sets up 2fa after the fact.
 

Deleted member 437

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,039
Ouch.

So essentially you have....nothing to prove its you.

How dont you have a single playstation store email receipt after thousands of dollars spent?
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,955
Soulflarz said:
Not gonna lie that info is really easy to get if youve ever stolen an account, thats actually awful for any customer that has their info stolen and sets up 2fa after the fact.
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You're not wrong, but I did basically dump as much information onto this guy as I could, as soon as we connected. Gave him every last detail I could think of regarding my usage of that account over time including weirdly specific shit. That probably helped him trust me a bit.
 
FBGMM2

FBGMM2

Member
Sep 15, 2018
334
Cancun MX
It is not possible to not have emails if you dowload anything from the store, you can acces your email account in your PC or tablet right?
 

Bundy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
20,931
Soulflarz said:
.

Like
If you dont have your password
A serial number
A 2fa device
A credit card proving it was you


They SHOULDNT be giving you the account. This would lead to giant social engineering issues. Flip the scenario to "can I get my friends psn account? I have his password but he has 2fa, how do I get past that?"
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? I'm asking why he can't log into his account with his PS4 (if he has one). I had that issue several times. Changed my mobile number a few times, forgot to change it in my PSN account for 2FA. Went to my PS4, logged in, changed it in the PS4 menu. End.

If he doesn't have an activated PS system, then.... :/
 
Soulflarz

Soulflarz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
Bundy said:
? I'm asking why he can't log into his account with his PS4 (if he has one). I had that issue several times. Changed my mobile number a few times, forgot to change it in my PSN account for 2FA. Went to my PS4, logged in, changed it in the PS4 menu.
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Oh I meant . as in "this", then replied to him myself. You're good~
 
ProstatePuncher

ProstatePuncher

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,800
Solid said:
EDIT: I'm pretty sure I supplied him with my old password, as well.
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Number one account security advice is never give your passwords out. Why would a support agent need it? They can likely access your account just by knowing your username. You're asking to get bamboozled one day by sharing that kind of info.
 
SDR-UK

SDR-UK

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,394
Never stored a card online, OP? For example, in your Amazon account? That'll get you the last four digits of the number and the first number will never change between cards.

How do you not have any email receipts? A workaround is getting a statement from your bank to show your purchases to PlayStation? I don't know whether they will accept that for sure, though.


Edit: As someone else mentioned, get the number back via your network.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
djshauny1 said:
1. An email from PlayStation where I purchased something on the store - I don't have any emails.
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This bit is somewhat difficult to understand. You have thousands of pounds worth of purchases on the account, but no emails? Were you deleting them? If so, are you totally sure they're deleted and not just hiding in some recycle bin-type folder?

djshauny1 said:
2. First and last 4 digits of my bank account card number - My old card expired before xmas and I have a new card. The old card was cut up and binned.
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Depending on how your bank works they may have given you a new card with the same number. Last time I got a new card it was the same number as the old one, except with a new expiry date and new CVV.

If you're sure it's different, perhaps the old card details are saved somewhere? If you used it for online purchases regularly you may have saved the details to your browser.

As a last resort, are you totally sure that the phone carrier cannot give you back your old number? You can surely prove your identity to them, validating your ownership of the number.
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,955
ProstatePuncher said:
Number one account security advice is never give your passwords out. Why would a support agent need it? They can likely access your account just by knowing your username. You're asking to get bamboozled one day by sharing that kind of info.
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It was an old password that I don't use anymore for an account that I hadn't had access to in a while. Thing was, I didn't think I had enough info to get my account back with, so I just went in with everything I had.
 
Rowsdower

Rowsdower

Prophet of Truth - The Wise Ones
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
16,568
Canada
I don't understand how you have no emails/proof of purchase. You get one of those for downloading demos. You get one for downloading/purchasing anything.

Did you block Playstation or something?
 
Soulflarz

Soulflarz

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
Basically I don't wanna be mean but like

Flip the scenario around to "How do I hack someones account with only their current password and nothing else" and the answers are gonna be the same. I literally don't think sony CAN help someone who doesn't have any proof beyond a password and a password you can get out of one of the pastebins from the 2013-2017 hack hell that led to millions of accounts being breached.
 

Radd Redd

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,004
Just because you say this is on the level there's no way you can prove it. Sounds sketch.
 
Swift_Gamer

Swift_Gamer

Banned
Dec 14, 2018
3,701
Rio de Janeiro
Aren't you able to recover your number? In Brazil we can recover our cellphone number and even port it to another carrier... I had my phone stolen in 2018 and in 2019. I switched carriers sometimes and I have the same number since 2013...
 
Fitts

Fitts

You know what that means
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,197
Phone number 2FA sucks and I'll never use it again. It's no more secure than a good password, is another way in for potential thieves, and can be a pain in the ass to scrub if you lose access to that number.

When I was getting my old number removed from everything my PSN account may have been the worst one to recover. I was able to through chat but it took about an hour and required supervisor intervention. I was eventually able to access my PS3 purchase history on the console and giving them the details of several of those orders was finally enough for them.
 
Combichristoffersen

Combichristoffersen

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,756
You had to get a new number? Because your phone was stolen?

Why couldn't they, you know, just activate a new SIM card tied to your existing number, causing a deactivation of your stolen SIM, and thus enable you to keep your number?

Asking as someone who works in telecom.

Swift_Gamer said:
Aren't you able to recover your number? In Brazil we can recover our cellphone number and even port it to another carrier... I had my phone stolen in 2018 and in 2019. I switched carriers sometimes and I have the same number since 2013...
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I've had my number for over 20 years and I've ported it between different operators over the years. Not being able to recover one's number sounds weird as all fuck.
 
Andrain18

Andrain18

Member
Apr 19, 2018
178
Orange County CA
No Emails? You need one to sign up for PSN. New Number when the phone was stolen, What carrier would just give you a new number instead of the same one with a new card? Not to be a dick but yeah, this sounds super shady imo. Surely in 2020 you'd have some sort of digital record of your transactions.
 
OP
OP
djshauny1

djshauny1

Member
Oct 27, 2017
887
Combichristoffersen said:
You had to get a new number? Because your phone was stolen?

Why couldn't they, you know, just activate a new SIM card tied to your existing number, causing a deactivation of your stolen SIM, and thus enable you to keep your number?

Asking as someone who works in telecom.
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It was a pay as you go simcard. That network was terrible in my area anyway. Ive switched networks.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
Fitts said:
It's no more secure than a good password, is another way in for potential thieves
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It's indeed more secure than a good password. If someone hacks a password and you don't have 2FA turned on, your account's broken. If someone hacks your password and you do have 2FA turned out, worst thing is you get some text spam alerting you that something suspicious is happening. A password, by itself, no matter how good, can be compromised through things like keyloggers, phishing sites, social engineering, or just someone seeing you type it (that's not a common concern, but those on-screen keyboards do make this a very easy route to a compromised password).

It's not another way in for thieves either. You can't get in to a PSN account with just a second factor. You need the password as well, and if someone has your password and your second factor, then yeah, they're getting into your PSN account, but they'd be getting it in anyway if it was only protected by a password. You're also far more likely to notice if they have your second factor - pretty much everyone will quickly notice if their phone isn't in their life any more.
 
Combichristoffersen

Combichristoffersen

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,756
djshauny1 said:
It was a pay as you go simcard. That network was terrible in my area anyway. Ive switched networks.
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By pay as you go I guess you mean a prepaid sub where you top up the card whenever you need to? Still, easiest would've been for your operator to just give you a new SIM activated on your existing number, and then you'd be able to port your number to a new operator.

Anyway, going by your OP, I think you're pretty much screwed, sadly :/
 
Fitts

Fitts

You know what that means
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,197
Eoin said:
It's indeed more secure than a good password. If someone hacks a password and you don't have 2FA turned on, your account's broken. If someone hacks your password and you do have 2FA turned out, worst thing is you get some text spam alerting you that something suspicious is happening. A password, by itself, no matter how good, can be compromised through things like keyloggers, phishing sites, social engineering, or just someone seeing you type it (that's not a common concern, but those on-screen keyboards do make this a very easy route to a compromised password).

It's not another way in for thieves either. You can't get in to a PSN account with just a second factor. You need the password as well, and if someone has your password and your second factor, then yeah, they're getting into your PSN account, but they'd be getting it in anyway if it was only protected by a password. You're also far more likely to notice if they have your second factor - pretty much everyone will quickly notice if their phone isn't in their life any more.
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It's a bad thing if some little asshole who works for a shitty carrier in Florida ports your number to a burner phone, I can tell you that for free.

Just have unique, secure passwords and turn on email notifications/confirmations for everything.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
djshauny1 said:
I delete all those emails. Didnt think they would be important. Lesson learned I guess.
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Well that's a hard way of learning that deleting emails is a bad habit. I guess you already made this decision, but just in case...stop doing that. Keep emails unless you have literally no choice, and if you have no choice but to delete, receipts, invoices and payslips should be left untouched, forever.

Do you have any devices logged on to PSN? Like, right now, I'm logged on to PSN on my phone, my PS4 and a few laptops. If I needed an email from PSN I could log on there and trigger a demo download and suddenly I'd have an email.

djshauny1 said:
Can they do that with pas as you go? Ill call them tomorrow and ask. Cheers.
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We can't tell you how carriers will react, but yes, this should be totally within the capability of a phone company. Visit one of their stores, if possible, instead of calling them. Bring several forms of ID including photo ID and something with an address, and be prepared to answer questions such as any personal question/answers you've set for verification, your previous addresses used with that carrier, and probably also your last top-up amount and method.
 
Eoin

Eoin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,103
Fitts said:
It's a bad thing if some little asshole who works for a shitty carrier in Florida ports your number to a burner phone, I can tell you that for free.
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Sure. That's a bad thing in terms of your phone security. It's not going to get them into your PSN account though, unless your password is already compromised.
 
elenarie

elenarie

Game Developer
Verified
Jun 10, 2018
9,807
This should be easy. The first 4 digits on your card are likely the same if you have the same type of card as before. They are unique for that card type / country / bank combination, one of those.

The last 4, check any other websites where you may have purchased something. Steam, Battle net, Origin, Amazon, whatever. They usually display only the last 4 numbers in receipts and your accounts on those services.
 
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