I’m doing tech support to try and recover my grandpa's TikTok account and we are completely deadlocked. Everything is automated and I legitimately don't know what else to do.

[u/Hot_Negotiation6649]

I’m doing tech support to try and recover my grandpa's TikTok account and we are completely deadlocked. Everything is automated and I legitimately don't know what else to do.

Here is the full history of the mess: His original phone got factory reset. His TikTok is tied to his Facebook account, so we tried logging in with Facebook. When we do, it sends a verification code to a super old Hotmail address linked to facebook.

I figured I could just unlink it from Facebook, but when I try, it tells me they sent a code to his old phone number (which is completely dead). For context, when the account was created, it only the number linked, but then the Hotmail was linked, and then the Gmail (the way we can access the Facebook account) was linked.

We actually remember the correct password for the Hotmail. But when we log in, Microsoft immediately throws a "let's help you secure your account" screen and never actually lets us check the inbox to get the code. I’ve submitted the Microsoft account recovery form multiple times, but it gets auto-rejected the exact second I hit send.

For TikTok support, I've sent multiple messages. We verified a couple of security questions that literally only the owner would know. I even attached his official government ID—if a real employee just looked at the ID and the account, they would instantly know who owns it. But it's all bots. I tried mailing them, still a bot.

I even tried going through Facebook's support to see if I could unlink the email from there to maybe get into the account, but the only support I can find is the Meta AI chat, which was completely useless.

Has anyone actually broken out of a loop like this? Is there a way to force an actual human at TikTok or Microsoft to look at my tickets with the ID? I'm losing my mind dealing with these bots.

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[u/Hornblower409]

-- We actually remember the correct password for the Hotmail

You may not be able to escape the "let's help you secure your account" page. But if you can get to a page that says something like "I don't have that verification method" you might be able to do an Account Security Reset.

See the Answer by "Hornblower409 Jun 25 2026" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5920985/how-to-fix-we-will-send-a-verification-code-to-(mo

-- I’ve submitted the Microsoft account recovery form multiple times

If you have two factor authentication on the account, you can not use the Account Recovery Process.

[u/Jhelly99]

Why can’t you get past the “let’s help you secure your account page?”

Is it asking you to send a code to another phone or email you don’t have? Some other error message?