Google does not have a phone line or an office you can visit to unlock your account. Recovery happens through one page, and Google decides by how much it can confirm it is really you. These steps give it the most to go on.
Nobody can "unlock" a Google account for you for a fee. People offering this online or in phone shops either do not deliver, or ask for your details to take the account themselves.
Start at the right page
Go to accounts.google.com/signin/recovery and enter your Gmail address or recovery phone number.
Give it the best chance
- Use a phone or computer you have signed in on before, ideally the one you normally use.
- Be where you normally are: at home or work, on the same Wi-Fi or network you usually use.
- Answer every question, even if you have to guess. A close guess for an old password is better than skipping.
- When asked for the last password you remember, give the most recent one you can.
- If it offers to send a code to your recovery phone or recovery email, that is the quickest route.
- If it asks why you cannot access the account, write clearly in plain words.
If it fails, wait a day or two and try again from the same device and place. Repeated attempts in quick succession work worse.
Forgot your Gmail address
Go to accounts.google.com/signin/usernamerecovery and enter your recovery phone number or email and your name as it is on the account. On an Android phone you still use, the address is shown in Settings, Google.
Your phone number changed
If the recovery number was an old SIM, you may still be able to recover it through the recovery email, or by answering questions from a device you have used before. If your old number was only blocked, not lost, you can often get the same number back on a new SIM at your network's service centre with your Ghana Card, and then use it to receive the code.
If it cannot be recovered
Sometimes Google cannot confirm enough and the account stays locked. Create a new account, and this time follow the setup in creating a Gmail account: recovery phone, recovery email and backup codes.
So this never happens again
- Go to myaccount.google.com, Security.
- Check the recovery phone and recovery email are current. Update them whenever you change number.
- Turn on 2-Step Verification and save the backup codes on paper at home.
- Save your password in a password manager.