Gmail Account Re-enabled

February 21, 2007 · 45 Comments

Update: Google just reactivated my account after about 72 hours and three or four emails from me to their support team.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. The issue you described should now be resolved. However, please be advised that we have received reports regarding unsolicited messages sent from your account.

I'm following up on the latter but this should at least offer hope for others who have had their accounts disabled.

Update: It's still disabled. Google have not responded to my emails about it. In the meantime you can reach me via sean.anthony.corfield (at gmail dot com) for Gtalk. But, as usual, personal emails should always go to my corfield.org, never to the Gmail accounts which I use purely for mailing lists.

For no good reason, my Gmail account (seancorfield) was disabled this morning (18th). Searching around the Google site uncovered that over the last few days many, many hundreds of users have also been locked out of their accounts. In one thread, someone quotes a Google employee as saying:

Hi all, We have been investigating these disables and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. Be advised that we received reports regarding unsolicited messages sent from many of the accounts that were disabled. We are investigating accounts in accordance with Gmail's Program Policies and your account may remain disabled or be re- enabled as a result. Gmail's Program Policies (http://mail.google.com/gmail/help/ program_policies.html) prohibit the use of Gmail accounts for sending unsolicited messages, or spam.

Seems like a massive SNAFU on Google's part, given the volume of complaints on their forums in the last few days. Hopefully they'll get their act together and fix the problem soon. What is really frustrating is that you can't even get through their Contact Us form without all sorts of information from your original Gmail invite. Since that came to me a couple of computers ago, I no longer have that data.

View count: 2103

Tags: personal

45 responses so far ↓

1 Rey Bango // Feb 18, 2007 at 4:11 PM

Sean you spammer!! ;o)

That stinks man. At least they've finally opened up GMail so you don't need an invite to create a new one in the interim.
2 Richard // Feb 18, 2007 at 8:20 PM

I guess there may be a few gmail users who are wittingly or unwittingly spamming people, other than the real spammers who have harvested addresses from wherever. Anyway, I've wondered why so many IT people use gmail.
On a similar note I started setting up email links as a CF template that does a <cflocation href="mailto:name@dot.com"> Does anyone know if this will really fool the email harvesting crawlers out there?
3 dc // Feb 19, 2007 at 3:52 AM

One thing to note, is that if you are using Google Apps for Domains, and have a catchall address, the spammers are taking you for a ride.

Make sure you turn off your catch all address so that only valid email accounts can be sent from... and remote mail servers can tell that the email from address is completely invalid (it can't if you have a catch all address!). Also think about adding a SPF to your DNS entry for that domain (https://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=33786)

I had it turned on for a while and saw the amount of crap that spammers were sending from fake emails from my domain name (the testament was thousands of undeliverable mails from non-existant accounts).
4 Dave Shuck // Feb 19, 2007 at 7:04 AM

I am convinced they will never remove "beta" from the Gmail logo for this very reason.

"You can't get too mad at us... it's beta!" :)
5 Dan // Feb 19, 2007 at 7:21 AM

I think that is a cover for the real probelm. Google opened up registration for all within the last 2 weeks and my suspicion is that they have issues with mass registrations that are most likely going on. Whatever the problem lets hope they figure it out quick.
6 Ray Buechler // Feb 19, 2007 at 11:01 AM

I've been getting a ton of spam in the last week of so from gmail email addresses. I was wondering if Google had opened up the gmail registration. Looks like they have.
7 Bren // Feb 20, 2007 at 1:15 AM

yes I have hotmail account and no spam at all untill this week when gmail opened registration up, now I am getting tons from gmail accounts.
8 TJ Downes // Feb 20, 2007 at 12:10 PM

MS is responsible in some way for this.... the machines sending the unsolicited email are probably Windows PCs and therefore it is MS' fault, Google is free of blame!
9 DrWeb // Feb 20, 2007 at 8:09 PM

I feel your pain. A loyal Google Account user, small blog, and GMail - with a few ads on the blog via AdSense. Nothing wrong or abuse in my work or using, until today. Disabled account, no response to e-mails to Google. I can't understand it, had relied on GMail - too much. I will see what comes, but I shall no longer trust GMail for e-mails of any consequence. I am going to use my ISP accounts more in the future. At least they have Technical Support, and respond to cries from users for help.
Best,
DrWeb
10 Bill Lin // Apr 10, 2007 at 8:42 AM

The gmail disable fiasco finally hit me, and over a day I have not heard any response from gmail. And I found out not only my gmail account was shut down, all my invites are disabled as well for no good reason. And I know all these invites from me are rare email users, no way these guys can commit unsolicited spamming at all, let alone committing at the same time. There are some fundamental problems in gmail. By the way, I also noticed the volume of spammer increased beyond my curiosity. Are they accusing me of selling my gmail address? With the volume of spammer so high, maybe people should turn around to collect these addresses for sale.
11 kev // Apr 10, 2007 at 5:28 PM

likewise, account disabled. very displeased with google on this one. Nowhere near my limit on daily sends, nothing showing in my sent mail, no notification from google. Cant send or receive attachments.

Thanks google - for nothing. Is it coincidence that they recently opened up gmail? Several of the people who I invited have been locked down/disabled, too.

And massive increase in spam, plenty of which is getting past the filters.
12 Neetu Gandhi // Jan 2, 2008 at 8:25 PM

Some has created fake id of my gmail account as a result my account get disable pls tell me the procedure to reactivate my id....thnks
13 RajKumar Sethi // Feb 28, 2008 at 1:03 AM

Hi

I lost my password last week than i looged complain my Account was hacked,but this week i just remebered my secuity question and now whenever i try to login first it shows password not matching,after giving answer of security question im able to change my password,but after reseting password it shows
"sorry your account has been disabled"

i had sended 2-3 mails to goolge support but still my accoubt is disabled.
14 cj lost his important emails // Mar 23, 2008 at 1:21 PM

i have some invaluable stuff in my gmail account and it's been "disabled" for 4-5 days now! i've sent a couple e-mails/contact forms and still have not received any response. i have had my account for years and my gmail account is my primary resource for almost every communication aspect of my life! i have stored a lot of information in my email box (which the beauty of gmail is). just cannot understand this... i do not do anything out of the ordinary with my gmail account! all i need is a reply of some type!
15 ABRAZ // Jun 1, 2008 at 9:40 PM

please enable my gmail account
16 kapil kumar // Jun 26, 2008 at 9:23 AM

Hello ,

my account has been desbeled last few days , i need ur help please help me out

regards

kapil kumar
17 pavan // Jun 28, 2008 at 9:50 AM

hi,

yesterday, my gamil a/c "superpavan@gmail.com" was disabled. i don't know the reasons. but, it is very important to me. i am giving mails to support team. please help me. please re-enable my account "superpavan@gmail.com". please send newpassword to my secondary email id as early as possible.

Thanks,
- pavan.
18 Jon Fisher // Oct 10, 2008 at 2:42 PM

My primary account has now been disabled for 2 weeks now and it is having bad consequences socially and professionally. I have tried over and over again to contact Google. Does any one have an effective method of contacting Google to get some answers
19 Derek // Oct 15, 2008 at 9:34 AM

Hi,
I know this post comes late, but I have just been locked out of my google account. (15 October 2008). All I have got from them is a aut-response after filling in the forms on the google website. There was something about my blogs spamming, the yesterday, but I signed in OK after going to a page and entering the letters, but today was just locked out again.

My blogs and adsense adds on blogs and website are all still in place, but I just cannot sign in at all.

I just don't understand it. I've had the account with Google for around 5 years. I never spam anybody and the only thing I can think that's upset them is I've left my URL on Stumbleupon.com and digg etc.

It seems that everybody that this has happened to is in the same boat and if I ran my business by cutting people off without explanation I would soon go broke. But I guess Google is too big to worry about things like that.
20 Nikki // Oct 17, 2008 at 9:48 AM

Hello,
I've sent like 5 requests to unlock my Gmail account, but since these are just processed by some script, there is no real chance to get it unblocked. I've been with GMail since early beta stage and I've never violated Google's TOS in any way -- still, my account has been disabled for no reason and without any explanation.

Google is great company, but if it comes to customer support of free services, they don't care about people. I have a dozen of registrations on this account, since I would never think that this can happen to me when I've done nothing against Google's TOS agreement. I've been using GMail as my official and primary e-mail address for years.

If anyone knows how to sort out this situation, please e-mail me. I will be much grateful for any meaningful advise. Good luck to everyone.
21 Nick // Nov 12, 2008 at 12:13 PM

Just had an exact repeat episode&account disabled. I my case its because there was a security issue with Google Checkout&the worthless redundant buying service that I signed up for to get 10% off some gear. What a fool. The Googlesphere is inherently evil and heres why. They promote trust that lures users with awesome free cloud computing service. I foolishly trusted Google and used Gmail, Docs, and Picassa to safeguard my data. Now, because of some BS Checkout problem, theyve locked me away from my data. IMAP made the situation far worse, since I now have lost 3-years worth of email data. INSANE. I blasted the cheerleaders at Lifehacker who promote all things Google. I suggest that anyone who suffers a similar fate do the same. The word needs to get out that Google cant be trusted.
22 Derek // Nov 13, 2008 at 4:09 AM

I totally give up with Google now. Through no fault of my own I lost adwords and had to struggle for 12 months to get it back. Now I have lost access to my blogs after building them up to a 3-rating, my email address, Picassa and all other services I had signed up for.

I've had no explanation whatsoever, and been locked out for several weeks now. To use analytics, I signed with a new account, but will never again rely on e-mail or adwords. The word linch-mob comes to mind.
23 John McCarville // Dec 1, 2008 at 2:09 AM

My GMail account was just compromised a few days ago and some fraud purchase were made with my Google Checkout. GMail disabled the account and did not charge me for whatever was bought. I STILL can't get in to my account. I can not get them to re-enable it and I had last years tax documents in the inbox so who knows what is eventually going to happen with this.
24 xxx // Dec 24, 2008 at 2:40 AM

my account has been disable
25 suppertravel // Dec 27, 2008 at 1:36 PM

my gmail account has been disabled for not reason i opened an account with gmail around 2 weeks a go and after couple of days my account got disabled and since i was advertising for my business through google my credit card is been charge and i can't get to my account and discontiuing the add...
plz help me
26 KC Morris // Mar 1, 2009 at 8:13 AM

My Gmail account has inexplicably been disabled and I feel LOST! I don't know what to do or why it's locked. I discovered this site as I was doing research to figure out how to gain access to my account. My experience has been similar to other posts here. If anyone can help, please let me know. I have an alternate email address which hasn't been used in years....kcm1618@aol.com. Thank you.
27 Adam // Mar 4, 2009 at 1:37 PM

My son's gmail account was disabled for no apparent reason. There is no where to go to solve this problem. They just don't care about the free services. Read countless threads on people having the same problem.
28 velan // Mar 25, 2009 at 10:07 PM

PLSEAS HELP ME MY GMAIL ACCOUNT HAS BEEN DISABLED HOW CAN ACTIVATE THIS ACCOUNT OR ENABLES&.
29 Glenn Gauzza // Apr 27, 2009 at 4:42 PM

My entire family uses gmail. Last summer we started a gmail account for my 79 year old mother. She has enjoyed it since then and now has her own laptop. On 4/26/09 her account suddenly no longer existed. I have sent emails to google at least 6 times in the last 48 hours and received no answer. I have tried to call them but no one seems to be home.
30 Nigel // Jun 5, 2009 at 7:56 AM

Well I was just locked out of my gmail account. Looks like I was intercepted at a nice hotel in Beijing, using their "free" wifi access. Now Google is asking me questions about starting my account 5 years ago, who remembers that stuff? My travel documents are in my inbox, my verification email account with the airline is also that same (blocked) address. How the hell am I supposed to get home?
I am a bit frustrated with Google right now. Would be interested if many others are in the same situation this recently (2009). I have trusted Google with my travel itinery, travel documents and my entire internet presence, and now this. I think I will be looking at the ISP contact route from now on, provided I make it home.
31 ramesh // Jun 20, 2009 at 7:24 AM

dear sir my email id is ramesh.t.purohit@gmail.com described i solition sir
32 anonymous // Jul 7, 2009 at 9:46 AM

same as nigel here. is google treating chinese access as an inherent problem? i'm sure the people of china would love to hear that.

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/gmail/thread?tid=59be805f856b704f&hl=en
33 martin // Aug 12, 2009 at 6:23 AM

hi,
I am not able to login for gmail, it states that account is disabled can anyone suggest me to get it back,

thanks
martin,
34 Nigel // Aug 12, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Well Martin, it took 6 weeks for me to get my account back, and my wife's account took 4 weeks. Both were disabled at the same time.
I do not have a problem with the fact of the disabling, that's fine, I'm all for nuking the spammers. Its the process of verifying ownership of the account I have a problem with.
Best of luck with that, I was submitting reports every other day for those 6 weeks. Keep at it until you get the email that asks you to stop for 48hrs, you would then be close to a result.
35 senthil // Aug 31, 2009 at 2:24 AM

my account has been disabled i dont know why i have alot of important messages in my gmail account please tell me how to activate my account ...
36 Teresa A Lamont // Sep 3, 2009 at 3:47 PM

My account tells me that my user name or pass word are invalid, they have not changed in nearly 6 year. I get about 300 emails in my gmail every day and now they are just sitting there,piling up and I cannot get to them.
I created another account, I will never use it because I was happy with the one I had.
And what is this user name being an email addres from another of your mail servers? Is this lame or just stupid?
I want my mail and address back NOW.
37 martin // Sep 4, 2009 at 5:28 AM

Hi,

I requst some body from Google support team to respond to my given mail id for the status of disable gmail, pleae do help me i have all my official data,

thanks
martin
38 kalyan // Sep 4, 2009 at 9:41 AM

hello sir,
i am also suffer from this problem.my account is disabled for few months.
now i cannot access my account.
plz sir help me how can i access my account again.
me waiting your reply.
plz help me.
39 Sean Corfield // Sep 4, 2009 at 11:13 AM

@all, if Google disabled your email account, you need to contact their support people. I suggest you start here:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=46346&cbid=o9u72dhw9ydy&src=cb&lev=answer

This is just my personal blog so coming here demanding help is not going to get you anywhere since there's nothing I can do for you. You can vent about Google and Gmail of course, if it makes you feel better, but the quickest way to get your account back is to contact the Google support team :)
40 Derek // Sep 5, 2009 at 1:40 AM

I lost my Google account in the middle of last year and have never got any satisfactory explanation from Google or had the account reinstated. After a few months I gave up and let it go. All the Adsense revenue I had built up and posts I made to my blog went with it. The blog is no longer even on line. I would never trust Google with anything ever again.
41 maromero // Sep 16, 2009 at 4:10 AM

Hello I truly hope any of you can give me a hand on this. since my last login on Sep 11 2009 I have not been able to access my reinierromero@gmail.com account. I have all my life here: 5 addresses forwarded to this address, calendar, tasks, contacts, picasa, docs,my android phone you name it. I am really desperate at this point and more after reading all this horrifying stories on some of these blogs. I did not travel outside this country, any help or advise?
42 sunny // May 5, 2010 at 10:00 PM

My gmail account has disabled. How to enable it again. please tell me
43 Jeremy Cushing // May 18, 2010 at 4:48 PM

Unfortunately my account has been disabled too. :(

So sad.

cushing.jeremy@gmail.com
jeremy cushing
44 Chitra Sharma // Jul 4, 2010 at 11:42 PM

Hi

Even my account is also disabled and i am not able to recovery it after so many try's. Pls help
45 sudesh // Jul 6, 2010 at 3:06 AM

Hi

Even my account is also disabled and i am not able to recovery it after so many try's. Pls help

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