I went to check my Gmail account and was terrified when I saw this message:
In most cases, accounts are disabled because of a perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service.
Google reserves the right to:
- Suspend a Google Account from using a particular product or the entire Google Accounts system if the Terms of Service or product-specific policies are violated.
- Terminate your account at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.
If your Google Account has been disabled, please review the relevant Terms of Service before attempting to create another account. For guidelines on a specific Google product, please visit the product homepage for a link to its Terms of Service.
Of course I hardly ever read the full TOS like everyone else. But I am very white hat and don’t do any thing bad on the Google products I use. In fact I recently got an offer from Google to become a partner on YouTube.
Google’s form asked me to select my country and then enter my mobile phone number which I did for my iphone – but I never got the code to enter. So I tried my wife’s cell number and she got the text message right away so then I entered the 5 or 6 digit code and BAM I was logged back in to all my Google products. Now I am scared sh*tless that it is going to happen again.
Two things come to mind: 1. Wow, I have a lot of info with Google. I can’t have this happen because how will I get to all my data like Analytics? 2. How can I backup so if this happens again I can protect myself?
Here are all my account that I was locked out from.
- Account – my account is shared between 2 addresses one of them is a gmail account. My account is even Verified.
- Alerts – 11 active
- Analytics – 9 websites. Couldn’t log on.
- Blogger – 1 site
- Calendar – Couldn’t log on.
- Checkout
- Contacts – 182 entries. Couldn’t log on.
-
Custom Search – 1
- Docs – 2 documents. Couldn’t log on.
- Gmail – 293 conversations. Couldn’t log on.
- Google Sync – 1 device configured iphone
- IGoogle – 16 gadgets
- Picasa Web Albums – 11 images
- Google Video – 9 videos
- Profile – 18 entries. When I went to look at it from a ‘Dave Dugdale’ search it said Prohibited.
- Reader – 67 items. Couldn’t log on.
- Talk – 0
- Tasks -1
- Voice
- Web History – Disabled
- YouTube – 191 public. I could see all my videos still online, i just couldn’t log on.
- Google Groups
- Google News
- Google Wave
- Google Webmaster Tools – Couldn’t log on. Once I logged in there where no messages for me.
- Knol
Interesting side note that when this happened YouTube was undergoing some maintenance.
Also I did find this topic useful on Google Groups regarding Gmail.
Sending a large number of undeliverable messages (messages that bounce back).
I do get several bounce backs a day because my system sends out many email alerts for new housing rentals. Perhaps this is the cause.
Also read about this guy that got his account reinstated 2 days later.
41 users responded in this post
I have the exact same problem. Did you happen to just get an android phone?
I tried to login yesterday to my web based account and got the screen you show above. So far, it looks like the prospects for recovering my account are bleak!
Kevin, I don’t have an android phone. Did you get a code messaged to you after you put in the number. What happen after that?
The phone thing did not work at all. I did not rcv an sms message. So far all my requests for help have gone nowhere.
Its very annoying. I don’t believe I violated the tos. There is no recourse.
Kevin,
Try another phone – anyones phone it doesn’t matter which phone you use.
Did you actually receive an SMS message?
Yes, it came right away using my wifes phone. try another phone.
I’ll try that. I hope it works. What a pain!
I got one step farther:
Sorry, there seems to be a problem. The service you’re looking for is temporarily unavailable. We’re working hard to restore your access as soon as possible. Please try again in a few hours. Thanks for your patience.
But I am still locked out. Thanks for you tip. Weirdly, Google would not send the message to my phone, but it worked when I sent it to another phone.
Now it works. That is a pretty messed up system!
Yes! and it scares the hell out of me. If I had a Google Voice account and that happened I bet I would not be able to use my Android phone at all.
Yeah, my most of the features of my phone stopped working. This was not a pleasant experience. Luckily I was not waiting on an important email, and only use my blog, etc… for entertainment. If I was relying on GMail or other services, I would have been in trouble!
Wow, I guess that is big thing to consider if you are looking at getting an Android.
[...] Google: Account temporarily disabled, davecolorado.com [...]
I just got one of these today, it could not come at a worse time. I just sent an email to ask a question on a Job posting from craigslist at 6 this morning and by 4pm my gmail was temporarily suspended. The only thing I can think of for the reason to suspend my account was some mildly aggressive link building on my blog just to practice (and see what happens as far as ranking/seo/analytics etc).
Like you were, I am getting very anxious because it was my name@gmail that has analytics data and account info for facebook/myspace/blogger all sent to this address. I hope it gets worked out, I used the contact form rather then the text message so I have to wait and see what happens.
yesterday i got this trouble and resolved once i gave my phone number and the code they have sent was given verified…then i got my account back..thank God…
I got problem today.
I also got the verification code after I gave them my number. But what do I do with this verification code? I dont see any place where I can enter it…
Poor for me, i got same problem today. @ rince: you can put the code at page after you click send verification code to my mobile phone button.
But i still waiting now
My account has been suspended. Use it entirely as a business account and nothing like this has happened before. Sent for a verification code which came immediately to my phone. Question is; where do I type this code???
This happened to me this morning, Google said my account was disabled and had to enter in a phone number. I entered in my iphone number and got the verification text message immediately. Entered it in and I now have access to my account.
My question is why did this even happen, how can I prevent it from happening again and how can I back up all my emails????
Worried.
Same happened to me today punched in my phone number got the account verification / activation code now am able to log in to my account… here is my question is this verification really from Google or is some one / group messing with Google is Google actually aware of this cuz I didn’t find any such process going on in Google bogs…. please help….
O.M.G. I was un aware so many people had this prblm. I have the Droid which requires to have a google acct. To work all its functions, I guess I wasent informed properly, So with my acct. Being disabled I can’t save Contacts Lost my contacts I had, I cant view my calaneder n so forth, so I kept on thinking I had forgoten my Pass word but was sure of typing in the correct one after breaking my head for seavral weeks I even thougth that this phone just might be to much High tec for me for not being able to use all its functions.so dint really ask for help felt Emberresd, Turns out My Google account Has 98% to do with my problm. Well what’s the point of having a such an awsome phone if u can’t do anything with it n your gmail gets canccelled when ever they feel like it? Theese people should of used a more relaible company I am very disapointed……. n. Some one should really Work on fixing our Problm with our Google accts…….. regardless to if we need it with a phone or not we trusted them with our information on E mails n I do consider it being. Some type of a violation of rigths….
I’m fairly security consious and to-date there is no association between my cell# and my gMail acct. Now Google is asking to send a text so I can regain access to my account. The worst thing I might have done is to look at the developers page of Android (I’m a SWEng). Any traffic through this account is quite tame. I’m actually hesitant to provide my ph# and have offered another e-mail for them to respond to. Regardless, taking my account hostage seems quite unacceptable.
Ok, This happened to me today, I did some research and apparently this is google’s new method of preventing people from hijacking your gmail account.
I checked the previous ip’s to access my account and all of them were me except for one, which was in serbia (I live in the US) which was apparently the one that locked my account, not only did google lock my account but they stopped the 50 spam e-mails that the hacker attempted to send from my e-mail account, thank god.
So this is a good thing.
Just follow the instructions to get your account back up and running, and change your password immediately.
I got this message today. Im wondering if this is a ruse by google to find out who you really are? This gives me the creeps.
had this problem earlier this afternoon. Looks like someone from Spain hacked and sent spam messages to my contacts. btw I’m from california
here is his IP… 82.213.171.109… lol can’t believe someone hacked my acct…
This happened to me today and has me freaked out (like a lot of other people’s comments).
Earlier in the day I created a new blogger blog and did and posted an admittedly spammer post to it consisting of one URL. It was only a test to try something. Within less than an hour of creating the new blog I received an email from Google saying the blog had been deleted as it had been suspected of being a spam blog.
I then discovered that I was locked out of my gmail !!
Adsense ads are still appearing on my webpages, so it appears that my adsense account is still ok.
I don’t have a phone so can’t get an automated verification code and as I work from home I can’t easily use a phone from someone else.
Google’s diabled my account for reasons unknown to me! My last log in was about 1030 pm GMT+1..teh message on the log in page was about receiving a verification code-which did come through but i havent been able to find where to input it!
Reading all these messages here is sooo disheartening as ive got years of information in my inbox…worse still it appears customer service isnt a strong point for them as individual responses sint something they do…can anyone help?..i’m going to alert my family and friends on FB today not to hand their lives over to google as ive done…the letdown is unbearable!..pls help, i just need to get my info only.thanks!
I got the temporarily disables message sometime back. I had seen weird spam messages in my sent mail folder yesterday. I deleted all of them. Today they locked my account. I submitted my cell phone number and got a verification code. Logged back in, changed password. Checked details for recent activities. All were my laptop IP in US except one from Panama, mobile phone. Signed out from all other sessions. I feel terrible! I may have spammed my entire address book!
Hey..I’m having the same problem and i got the verification code on my mobile. As Ben asked, where do i type it in?? Pls help me..thanx
I received the same message, the sms didn’t work with my phone number, however I put in my husbands and instantly he received a text. I have the droid and he has the iphone. All works now, but for how long?
Please someone help me i have the code but where do i put it there is nothing on the page where i can enter it how did the rest of you do it.
I’ve the same problem and I have received the verification code as well. Unfortunately, I can not find there is any option I can input this code. Any idea? Thanks
is it a way for Google to collect mobilephone numbers of all its users?
The same thing happened to me and I noticed that I have about 10 delivery failure notifications to email addresses in my google account that I did not try to send. So it looks like my account has been hacked as well and they were sending spam messages from my gmail account and now Google has disabled my account. I just got the Droid Incredible and now this happens? So using my gmail with the Droid Incredible made me more susceptible to hackers. I don’t think I want this phone anymore…we HAVE to use Google to use this phone. By the way I have received 3 of those codes now but when I try to access the page to enter the code it just keeps saying my account has been disabled with no option to enter the code so I am wondering if my account is permanently disabled?
I have had my account temporarily suspended for 6 days now. I have provided an alternate email address to google and they have not contacted me. Further, I tried to restore the account using a work phone landline where an automated voice ‘Jenny’ calls and gives me a code. After the first attempt, I was taken to a new window and told… “the system is currently unavailable…please try again in a few hours.” I have done this 5 times now and google will no longer send me a verification code to my phone number! They are now asking for a different number and I will not give them my mobile! This is how people are currently enslaved and I am scared to death. PLEASE HELP with any suggestions you may have.
I suppose I’m not alone – SIX DAYS, Jonni???!?!! I’m going on two and am livid. I live in Korea and this is my only access to the west, my CV, passport scans, bookmarks etc. I’m even more enraged at Google’s lack of response, to my alternative address or cell phone. Obviously, they are not set up to send this SMS to a Korean cell phone, despite the fact that I can enter that as my country. I wish I could find a place to report this to someone who has some power at Google; I don’t feel that I’ve violated their rules, and taking away something I rely on so much is really unacceptable in my books.
I am abroad; the text message didn’t come through to my cell phone, but the voice message did. My Gmail account was reactivated.
I figured out the problem – the first e-mail I had not seen was from YouTube, informing me that they’d deleted a video of mine due to copyright infringement. No big deal, I thought – but apparently it was, because it was the third time, so they closed my YouTube account. Because it’s linked to my Google account, they disabled the whole thing.
My Gmail is restored, but my YouTube is not.
So beware: Google owns a lot of websites, and associates your account with all of them. Activity on one site will be considered part of your Google account on the whole.
My wife gmail account has been temporarily disabled and she can not get on to her gmail and we can not fine and phone number to get help with this problem we do not know why her Account was temporarily disabled and this is making both of use up set. so can you give us a land line number where she can call to fine out how this can be fix.
I checked my gmail this morning I got a message that my account was disabled. I have no clue why they did that.
I am wondering why entering my mobile phone number would make up for anything I supposedly did do wrong (i.e. copyright infringement). It looks to me like Google just wants to build a database with phone numbers. Right now I refuse to enter my mobile number! But maybe I will be forced to do so in the end
This is crap! There is no reason for a free email provider to have your phone number! WTF!
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