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Locked out of my Dropbox account due to two-factor authentication

In a nutshell: The last time I logged into my Dropbox account was June 22, 2025, and I had no problem. On July 8, I went to log in, and was for the first time asked for a 6-digit code on an "authentication app." Baffled, I clicked the "I still need help" link. Next I was asked for the 8-digit "emergency backup code." I searched my Mail and looked in vain through my Junk folder to see if I had been sent any such thing. That failing, I contacted Support. There followed a lengthy back-and-forth where I was told I had turned on "two-factor authentication" and that when I did, I would have been presented with options to link to an authentication app or to my mobile phone. And that I would have been sent the 8-digit emergency backup code.

Now, I'm meticulous about recording passwords and making notes about online accounts. I have no recollection and no record of signing up for that. Did I accidentally? Did someone use my old password and sign up for it, to hijack it? Yet, if hypothetically that happened, they did not change the password, and last week, in a last ditch effort, I successfully did, but the two-factor prompts still come on. I am baffled.

In the back-and-forth between myself and the support tech, I have offered to prove my identity to the support tech. There are many ways I could do that. His response was, that was not possible, to repeat the advice that he had already given me, and to close the ticket as "solved."

If such a thing as Advanced Tech Support? Will someone working there revive my faith in Dropbox or reinforce my feeling that it was entirely misplaced? Note that the account I am having trouble with is not the one I am logging into this forum with, because for that that I would need to be able to fill in a two-factor authentication code, that for all intents and purposes, is non-existent.

It's all been so dispiriting. But it's a free account, and I guess you get what you pay for.

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GGGNY

@Jay and @Mark — Thank you for offering suggestions. After I posted the original comment to this forum, I decided to give Dropbox Support one more try. This time I said in the initial request that there was a possibility my account was hacked. I told the tech who responded what I have been through, and that I was losing faith in Dropbox, and a few days later got an email from him saying he had escalated the ticket to a specialist. The specialist sent me a series of specific questions related to my account, which I answered. He then removed two-factor authentication, told me to try logging in, and sent a list of security checks for me to perform (e.g. create a new strong password, which I had already done). It looks like nothing is missing, not that there was anything compromising or information anyone could profit from in there.

So it is good to know that somewhere within the Support staff at Dropbox are support people who do not respond like uncomprehending chatbots. While I am very relieved to have regained access to my Dropbox account, I would not rush to add two-factor authentication in the future, knowing it was a month-long ordeal to get assistance when it went awry.

All comments

Mark

Unfortunately the only people who can help is Dropbox support and if you dont have the 2FA security information the account is almost certainly lost.

2FA can only be set up by somebody authorised to access the account - i.e. you OR a bad actor, but, to do that they'd needed to know your username/password. Its unusual for them to leave email the same and set 2FA up, so, my guess here (and note I do not work for Dropbox) is that you have set it up accidentally.

When you set up 2FA you are forced to confirm you've downloaded the recovery security codes. They are part of the process of setting it up.

I have a feeling there is nothing anybody can do here as you've already been in contact with support who have said they cannot assist.

Sorry

GGGNY

Thanks, Mark. This confirms to me that I definitely did not go through that process, because if I was forced to confirm I'd downloaded the codes, I would have recorded that. Now I wonder if the account was hacked but they didn't want to arouse my suspicion by having me receive a password change request in my email.

Jay

Hi @GGGNY, just for clarification, were you logged into your Dropbox account on any other devices that you own, or was your account logged into a browser at a computer you don't frequent?

Do you have the ticket ID from when you contacted the support team in order for me to locate it on the system?

GGGNY

Megan

Hey @GGGNY, thanks for sharing your updates with us.

Happy to see that everything is back on track.

If you need something else, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help every step of the way.