Security info deleted

Changed info doesnt affect the account recovery form

As they go by the original.info ot current

Hi Denise,

What’s the exact error you receive when trying to sign in? Does it say the account doesn’t exist/is inactive?

Does it say the email or phone number doesn’t match an account? Can you post back with a screenshot or photo of the error? Just be sure to blank out any personal info.

First confirm that the email you received was a genuine legitimate email from Microsoft, as there are some phishing ones out there that try to steal your account information.

If you receive an email from the Microsoft account team and the email address domain is @ accountprotection.microsoft.com, it is safe to trust the message and open it. Microsoft uses this domain to send email notifications regarding your Microsoft account.

If your account has been compromised:

Secure your account if you think you’ve been hacked | Xbox Support

and

How to recover a hacked or compromised Microsoft account | Microsoft Support

Unfortunately, the only way to recover a Microsoft account is through the account recovery form, although this may be difficult if the account details have been changed by someone else. You may want to read help with the Microsoft account recovery form and this thread for instructions and advice on this.

I’d also advise contacting your bank and cancelling your card to prevent unauthorised charges on your account.

In future, I suggest enabling two-step verification (also known as two-factor authentication or 2FA) on your account, so if anyone does get access to your login credentials, additional verification will be required to sign in. This security feature is recommended, as it adds a ‘safety shield’ for assurance. Just make sure to always keep your security info up to date.

How to use two-step verification with your Microsoft account | Microsoft Support

Please note most of us here are just regular community users and volunteers here to help on the forum, and not Microsoft employees or affiliated to Microsoft in any way. We can only advise, and as this is a public forum, no one here can access accounts. This is explained in the forum FAQ here

It would be best to contact support - they’ll be able to take a closer look at your account and investigate unauthorised account access and any concerns. Alternatively, you can go through Microsoft support (different support portal but you’ll reach the same team). Once you get to the virtual support agent select ‘Xbox’ or ‘Microsoft account’ in the product list and ‘other account issues’ as the issue, then select live chat or request a call back. The contact options will show the estimated wait time/queue. Whichever reason you select to speak to someone, once you get through to an agent they can re route you, if needed, to the correct team that can help so don’t worry.

In these situations it’s always best to reach out to support, they’ll advise on what to do and can help recover your account.

I hope this has at least helped to alleviate and ease your worries a bit. Any further questions or concerns, I’m happy to help!

I think we have traced this issue to an email asking him (my son) if he wanted to sign-up to a Call of Duty newsletter. He got the email, followed the links in the email, and then (I think) put in his login details and password as part of the sign-up process for the newsletter.

So, it was a phishing attack.

"Now, login on outlook using the email your account used to be associated with"

That's the whole problem! You cannot login because the email (username) no longer exists - because it was deleted.

Bare in mind, most if not all account takeovers occur when you willingly trust someone, account security has come a long way since "security questions"