Unable to Access PS Account with 2FA After Phone Number Change - Help Needed
Summary:
I changed my phone number a bit under a year ago to take advantage of a 12 month pre-paid phone plan, having forgotten I enabled Two Factor Authentication on my Playstation Account, and am now unable to access my PlayStation Account. PlayStation chat support was unwilling to assist me and provided zero guidance, and the phone support I am unable to access due to it wanting a support code I cannot find, so I need guidance on how I might be able to restore access to an account I have had since at least 2009 (primarily using it for my PlayStation 3 gaming over the years).
Full Post:
Hello everyone,
I have had a PlayStation account, primarily used with my PS3, since at least 2009. It is fairly rare that I log into my account, but recently I needed to do so in order to purchase a game a friend wanted to play online, and noticed I was unable to login to my account to do so.
This was due to the fact I had enabled two-factor authentication near the end of 2019, at a time when I was securing my various accounts due to the fact some of them had suffered data breaches over the last 15 or so years, and I wanted to ensure my passwords and such were unique.
Just under a year ago, around May of 2020, I got a new phone and phone number. My old phone number could not be transferred if I wanted to utilize a "Stimulus Check Special" that saves $20/month on my previously $45/month phone bill if 12 months are paid up front.
So I can't use two factor authentication to access my account with that number, and can't seem to find any recovery code saved.
Prior to posting here, I tried contacting PlayStation support through the chat option on their website.
Here is the transcript, with the Chat Agent name made generic (no other edits were made except spacing):
"Support Agent: Thank you for contacting PlayStation, my name is Support Agent. how may I assist you today?
Me: Hello. I have had a PlayStation account since having a PSP (which I no longer own) and a PS3 (which I still occasionally use) since about 2009. I got my first smart phone in 2013, and activated 2 factor authentication due to somebody getting into my account about a year ago, but have since changed numbers and can't get into my account anymore. I had completely forgotten I used 2FA since I only hop onto my PS3 every few months, and am wondering how I can change my number for it to my new number, or otherwise access my account.
Me: Or maybe it was two years ago? I could check my emails for when I did the 2FA reset.
Support Agent: I will be more than happy to assist you today. Just to make sure is the Online ID that you entered in the pre-chat form the one that you need assistance with?
Me: Yes, that should be correct.
Support Agent: I'm really sorry but due to security reasons we will not be able to assist you. We cannot make any changes to this account. Thank you for contacting PlayStation. I hope you have a wonderful day."
The chat was then immediately closed without any explanation given, which was unfortunate. I tried to contact chat again so I could ask for further steps, but was met with this message:
"It appears we just chatted with you. I'm sorry we didn't resolve your issue. Please try again later."
I tried calling the PlayStation phone number afterwards, but was asked for a "Support Number" that is supposed to be given on the PlayStation support website. I went to that website, and could not find any support number listed or an option to receive one so I could call in for help.
So I am at a loss as to what I can do next to access my account.
Has anyone been in a similar situation before? I can't possibly be the only person who has had this happen to them.
I tried searching on Google prior to making this post to see if I could find any advice, but had no luck. Since I cannot access either chat support or phone support, I figured this sub was a good next step. Obviously social engineering is a real problem, and that in fact is why I enabled 2FA in the first place. Regardless of that fact however, I need some means of accessing my account that I have had for more than a decade, and which has many of my digital purchases and such linked to it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
Posted Apr 12, 2021, 11:12 PM UTC
PS3 is not through your phone number. It is through the app or website and your account. Go on the PS App, click the Gear for options, go down and select Account Information (or go straight to Sony's website and start with the following steps), click the 3 lines in upper left, click Security, under 2FA click Device Setup Password, generate a password and use that password to login not your actually personal password.
The Playstation App definitely requires a text message sent to my previous phone number to login, so I'm not sure what you mean. I also have never used the PlayStation App before (I installed it now to double-check).
I can't generate a device password if I can't get into my account in the first place, because it insists on sending a text message to my previous phone number.
Specifically, it says:
"2-step verification is enabled. Check your mobile phone for a text message with a verification code. Enter that code here."
In order to get that text, I would need to pay for an additional month of data on my previous phone that I have in storage somewhere (assuming they haven't already taken away the number), which is costly. Assuming I can even turn the phone on also, it is quite old which is why I replaced it in the first place (had it from 2013 to 2020).
The PS App has no "Gear for options," it simply has a "Sign in" option which immediately prompts me for my email address, followed by asking for my password. It then asks me for my Two-Factor Authentication code, which (as I quoted) specifically sends a text message to my old phone number.
The website also requires this text message code in order to log in, which would be required to get to "Account Information" or "Security" or "2FA click Device Setup Password" as you mentioned.
I'm not sure you are understanding the nature of my problem.
Or maybe the app behaves differently in different parts of the world? I am in the USA.
I understand the nature of your problem, but I certainly do not have every piece of information. I had assumed you had the app or the ability to sign into the website. Once you log into the app with 2FA once, it remains logged in, that allows me access to my account at any time. Since you don't have it already, then yes you have to log in. PS3 no longer allows you to log in with your actual PSN password, now you are required to generate the password via the app/website as part of PS3 2FA, so I was hoping that would help you get into your PS3. I just had to do it to get on my PS3 last week, I did not have anything sent to my phone because I already have the app.
Since you do not have access through the app and you do not have any of the 10 backup codes saved your only option is to do account recovery.
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/contact-us/#account
That does explain why I enabled two-factor authentication then, because I normally would have simply used a separate password to avoid precisely the kind of trouble I am going through now.
Sadly, I never used the app. There must be an option to generate that password via text, from what I can gather. Of course the actual PS3 password would be the same as the 2FA authentication code given, as far as I can tell.
Since I have already tried contacting PlayStation support via chat and they basically brushed me off, and can't seem to find a way to call them and actually get through to a real person, I'll have to try somewhere else unless somebody else has a suggestion.
Thanks for your input, in any case.
Do not provide all the story that you gave them. Tomorrow message the chat and just say..."I need to recover my account. This is the name on the account which is my name, this is my email on my PSN account, this is the serial number of the PS3 that is the primary console on my PSN account." You most likely confused them with the full story you provided amd just got a chat agent that is not that bright haha.