A few years ago, I lost my primary Google account to a mishap with two factor authentication.
It was a stupid mistake on my part. I didn't save any of my backup codes, and then ended up doing a factory reset on my Android phone. Well, on a fresh device, I no longer had the Authenticaor app that spits out the 2FA codes. And that was all.. she... wrote.
My primary e-mail. All of my play store purchases. Everything... gone. I tried the accounts recovery process. Followed everything to a 'T. Even directly identified recent e-mail in my inbox as they asked. But it was not sufficient, and I have never been able to get it back.
It was a stupid mistake on my part. I didn't save any of my backup codes, and then ended up doing a factory reset on my Android phone. Well, on a fresh device, I no longer had the Authenticaor app that spits out the 2FA codes. And that was all.. she... wrote.
My primary e-mail. All of my play store purchases. Everything... gone. I tried the accounts recovery process. Followed everything to a 'T. Even directly identified recent e-mail in my inbox as they asked. But it was not sufficient, and I have never been able to get it back.