Microsoft Account Locked (Compliance Lock)

Reported
Anonymous
2019-12-24T10:53:59+00:00

Hi,

When logging in to any Microsoft service I receive the message:

Your account has been locked

We’ve detected some activity that violates our Microsoft Services Agreement and have locked your account.

Unlocking your account

To unlock your account, you’ll need some additional assistance. Navigate to "aka.ms/compliancelock" and we’ll get you to the right place.

When I follow the link and fill out the form I received the reply that I violated the Code of Conduct and won't be able to access the services anymore. Any charges to my linked credit card will be stopped.

It does not tell me how I violated the Code of Conduct, nor does it tell me how to reinstate my account, while the form I filled out is called "account reinstatement". It also does not tell me how to retrieve my data.

The form states: "Your account has been suspended for suspicious activity, sending unsolicited emails, or for violating of Microsoft’s Terms of Use agreement, such as hosting photos, video or other content in violation of the Code of Conduct."

I'm pretty sure though I did not send SPAM or hosted/posted/shared inappropriate content. As for suspicious activity, I'm not sure what is included here, but I'm a basic user of the services.

What I would like to know is:

  1. How did I violate the CoC? In my opinion you can't just cut people off without providing a clear argument on what happened. As far as I can tell I did not violate any of the 10 commandments listed in the CoC.
  2. This account has existed for 23 years and never before has it been reviewed for any violation (that I know of). How can you just disable it and tell me I will never be able to use it again? (without providing any reason)
  3. How will I retrieve my data and access my purchased and payed for licenses?
    • Hotmail email conversations (not a priority as I don't use it for email and my last email sent was from March).
    • Onedrive data, including pictures of the early days of my children's lives. (I pay for additional storage)
    • Access to my Azure resources, connected to my MSDN subscription.
    • My (payed) Skype-In phone number I use for my business.
    • My MCP ID and transcript. This is my professional learning transcript but also counts towards my company's Microsoft Parnter Network competencies.
    • My digitally purchased XBOX games and apps (not a priority)

I've called and chatted with support, local and world-wide, for different services, but all are receiving the same answer from the CDOC team, as can be found under ticket number ***removed for privacy***, which I find unacceptable.

It's been 14 days now... Please help!

Regards,

Reinto_123

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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222 answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-10T00:32:55+00:00

    It is what I was advised to do by the only customer support person out of many that was actually helpful.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-10T00:46:23+00:00

    [FINALLY GOT A RESPONSE] 

    Greetings all,

    I have finally got a response for my compliance form from the Microsoft team after 6 months of waiting. My email account was locked for the reason which was I had accidentally logged in to my email using a VPN. However, the response is Bad news. They weren't able to unlock my account no matter what correct information was given. This is what they had said (https://i.imgur.com/pTedfUQ.png) :

    "Hi,

    This is Ethan with Microsoft Customer Support again. I hope you are doing well today.Microsoft restricted access to your account due to a violation of the Microsoft Services Agreement. Violations of the Microsoft Services Agreement may require Microsoft to restrict access to particular content in your account and, in extreme cases, permanently close the account. We have evaluated your appeal and have verified that activity occurred on your account that violated the Microsoft Services Agreement. To read the Microsoft Services Agreement, please visit: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/microsoft-services-agreement?woldogcb=0.There is nothing further that I am able to do for your account because of this block. I will go ahead and close this case as resolved now.

    Thank you for your patience and understanding while we investigated your issue. Have a great day!Sincerely,

    Ethan B"

    So basically Microsoft is a piece of sht company that deserves to get disrespected.  Please everyone, do not use anything/buy from Microsoft. Trash support with agents that don't provide support.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-10T00:56:46+00:00

    That was exactly the response I got. Sorry you too got this.

    Unfortunately, nearly everyone needs a Microsoft account to do... something. Minecraft fans will have to grovel at the feet of these j**kholes because Mojang is senselessly tossing their entire community into Microsoft's minefield. This is not excusable, somebody needs to do something. Too bad neither Microsoft nor hackers (if they exist) will target somebody big like a massive YouTuber who loves their fans.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-10T01:07:58+00:00

    Exactly. Overall, there is no way to unlock your locked email account regardless of having the correct identification details, FACE ID, Fingerprint, Mobile number etc, it is just their system policy to permanently lock email accounts which triggers if a rule has been broken.  This is probably the reason why Microsoft shut down their live streaming service called Mixer.  To Microsoft, temporary lock = permanently locked. 

    P.S. I've already archived this page of the post forum in case Microsoft does try and remove our final comments. https://web.archive.org/web/20201110011216/https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook\_com/forum/oaccount-oother/microsoft-account-locked-compliance-lock/c99f2fd3-c03f-414e-83f2-eb9eba2db4b3?messageId=013bcedc-5f01-47b8-84ad-55e6594272a5&page=20

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-11T13:01:18+00:00

    I very much encourage you all to google microsoft complaint procedure. You should find several websites with the CEOs email address. Send her an email and itll get passed to complaints team and they might help. They certanley helped me, although still no reason has been given for the lock in first place

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