Recovery of PSN account - complicated

McGraw

McGraw

McGraw

Soldato
Joined
16 Jan 2006
Posts
3,051
Hi.

Before I go into this, please don't be too harsh on this guy, he lives with grandma and has no immediate family who can help...I'm a family friend and would have set everything up if I'd known.

A 15yr old I know has wiped his PS4 in preparation for selling it but has now changed his mind for the short term.

Now he has nothing to play on because he had his password stored on a wallet app on a phone he no longer owns (not sure why) and can't remember the email he used to set it up and passwords are in the app. On top of this I think he has set up a master account and used a fake age...he can't remember whether he has done this or used his grandma's details.

All his games are downloads so he's a bit stumped.

Where do I start trying to help him...ringing Sony? I'm concerned they'll not be able to security identify him.

Thanks a lot.
 
So what info does he actually have? The PSN at least? Is there a backup of the phone he can use? 100% sure there is no way to track down the email used? The only think I can think of is, if he has the PSN and billing info / address etc he might be able to get Sony to help
 
LackyT said:
So what info does he actually have? The PSN at least? Is there a backup of the phone he can use? 100% sure there is no way to track down the email used? The only think I can think of if is he has the PSN info and the billing info and address etc he might be able to get Sony to help
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Unless he used fake information?
 
The only way I can see him gaining access to it is to see if he can recover the wallet app data on a new phone.

Alternatively he could potentially try recover the account details using his PSN ID but I'm fairly sure that his email address is the integral piece to the recovery.

I highly doubt Sony will be able to help even if they wanted to as he doesn't know the email address, the master account details and he has also maybe used a fake age on the account - even if he hasn't and has used his Grandma's then Sony will probably only recover the account based on her details which is the next problem, Sony will recover email and passwords but only with identifying information such as D.O.B and account activity.

It's probably worth ringing Sony Customer Support and seeing if they come back with anything but I wouldn't get my hopes up - they probably deal with dozens of phone calls of people trying to access accounts without knowing the email address and many of those will have a much more sinister agenda than you and the 15 year old.

The nuclear option would be write off the account and maybe sell the PS4 and get a good deal (loads about atm) on a XB1S and you help him set up the account (xbox live codes are available for £30 or keep using free trials) or set up a new account on PSN and take the hit on the downloaded games.

Be interested to see how you get on though.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'll talk to him again today and try to find some more info out. Maybe he used grandma's card details to pay.

Will update as I go.

Ps he knows the psn id
 
McGraw said:
Thanks for the replies.

I'll talk to him again today and try to find some more info out. Maybe he used grandma's card details to pay.

Will update as I go.

Ps he knows the psn id
Click to expand...

PSN ID is a start, they may allow recovery with bank card security verification (last 3, account no) and recent account activity. I don't suppose he had any two step verification on his email? If he could just remember the email address (if he set it up for the PS then maybe he used a similar email address as his PSN ID?) then it will probably take 5 mins to reset email password and PSN password.
 
davisdavid said:
PSN ID is a start, they may allow recovery with bank card security verification (last 3, account no) and recent account activity. I don't suppose he had any two step verification on his email? If he could just remember the email address (if he set it up for the PS then maybe he used a similar email address as his PSN ID?) then it will probably take 5 mins to reset email password and PSN password.
Click to expand...

That was what I was going for too. "I can't remember the email but I can verify all the bank details etc"

Definitely some life lessons though, don't use a password/username manager and then delete it with no backup. Good luck McGraw!
 
LackyT said:
That was what I was going for too. "I can't remember the email but I can verify all the bank details etc"

Definitely some life lessons though, don't use a password/username manager and then delete it with no backup. Good luck McGraw!
Click to expand...

I'm always amazed the amount of people that wont write details down on a good old fashioned pad.
 
V F said:
I'm always amazed the amount of people that wont write details down on a good old fashioned pad.
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I don't think I've met a 15 year old since the dawn of the smart phone who would write anything down. I'm 31 and I don't write anything down apart from Football Manager shortlists. Everything is just a phot which goes to OneDrive and Dropbox for later viewing.
 
Most adults aren't any different, most. It proves it doesn't work though since this has happened.
 
If all his games are downloads, does he have the Sony email receipts for them? Here's a tip from me - whenever you buy a game digitally write down the order number on the receipt in a spreadsheet. Takes 2 minutes and could save you some grief later on.
 
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