I have finally received a response from Blockchain:

 
I appreciate your patience while waiting for a response.
 
I apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delay in resolving your issue. In order to assist you further, could you please provide additional information?
 
Could you kindly share the following details with us:
 
SMS Number
2FA type used (SMS, Email, None)
Last Date Accessed
Creation IP address
 
Upon receiving this information, we will be able to investigate the matter in our system. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
 
Warm regards,
 
Zee | Blockchain.com Support


So it seems I have a fresh attempt of trying to deal with them.

Blockchain are completely ignoring me now.

I've had no response back from their complaints email.

I have no idea what to do now. There doesn't seem to be any external mediator / ombudsman I can go to.

Chances are it was an inside job as I had left the wallet without any intervention since 2014.

Just an update.

I received no response from the helpline despite two reminders.

I have therefore filled out a form on the complaints line.

Hoping for a response!

Well I'm still waiting for a response from Blockchain so it seems like they are ignoring me know. I sent another message to chase them up yesterday but still nothing.

Thanks very much for your continued support.

I have sent a message to Blockchain using your text and including dates etc.

I will let you know their response.

So I replied to them in a more stern manner this time and once again asked for the email to be changed back to the set-up email. This is their response:


Thank you for your message.
 
I am afraid that no manager can resolve this, as we have been telling you, our wallets are non-custodial, we are unable to make the change you are asking us to do. We cannot change its email address as your wallet is non-custodial only.
 
Additionally, if there is an email change that you may not have done, it means that this account has been compromised, a third party may gained access to it and in turn changed its email address and even likely its login password that we cannot know of. What we have been telling you is that there is noting else we can do to assist you when it comes to regaining access into that account which account has not been accessed for multiple years now.
 
We cannot also know if there are any funds held within that account either.

As a non-custodial wallet provider, we do not have access to or knowledge of the addresses within users' DeFi Wallets, nor do we have access to users' funds within those wallets in any way. This helps protect our users' security and funds from malicious parties; however, it also means that we have limited information about them.

You can learn more about how our wallet functions with the information below. Sorry that we could not be of more help.
https://www.blockchain.com/learning-portal/how-it-works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOzqspulYf0
 
Mike | Blockchain.com Support



So now I have no idea what to do, I guess I try their complaints line?

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, if they could send me the file then that would work as I have the set up password.

Earlier in the correspondence i sent them the wallet ID. This is when they responded by saying the email address attached to it was a different one. So I guess if they have found the wallet then the Wallet.aes.json is there also?

If they could just revert the email back to the set up one, this would solve it. I guess the only thing is that if someone else has entered the file then they may have changed the password?

Yes it's frustrating as I have literally all of the security info. It's just the email that has changed. I'm thinking that something happened during that period around 2016, and it could easily be an error by Blockchain.

I'll send them another email and let you know what happens.

Ok so this is the response I got back from Blockchain:

Hello,
 
As we wrote, unfortunately we are unable to help recover or reset passwords. This is not a matter of policy but simply that it is impossible for us to reset a wallet's password due to the way the file encryption is designed. Please try every possible password combination you may have used.
 
You can use the legacy mnemonic to reveal the password at the time of recovery phrase creation here,
https://login.blockchain.com/wallet/recover-wallet  Keep in mind the mnemonic recovery phrase only reveals the password at the time of phrase creation, if the wallet’s password has been changed since the recovery phrase was created then the information it provides may be inaccurate and out of date.
 
The older version of our wallet has been discontinued. This transition period was ongoing throughout most of 2016, and now upgrading your wallet to the latest version is required to access funds.
 
Wallet.aes.json backups can be imported here: https://login.blockchain.com/wallet/import-wallet . Please note, this process does require the correct wallet password in order to decrypt the file.
 
If you do not have the correct password or an accurate recovery phrase, then access to the wallet and any funds it may contain has been lost.
 
You can read more about how our Blockchain digital currency wallet works - https://www.blockchain.com/learning-portal/how-it-works


So I've sent a total of 18 emails so far. On virtually all of them I have spelled out that I have the ID, password and mnemonic code. Yet his first line is "As we wrote, unfortunately we are unable to help recover or reset passwords"

I am losing the will to live lol.

I am thinking that maybe the email change has something to do with the transition of the wallets in 2016? I have no idea. All I need is for them to change the email back to the original one used for the set up.

I just can't believe the ineptitute of the helpline staff. Should I just send a message to their complaints line at this stage?

Yes that's true, though i won't give up.

Their answers are very much robotic, copy and paste.

It's shocking really that company who hold the keys to so many peoples money / life savings/ fortunes, are so apathetic and blase about it.

Banks get a bad press but they are leagues ahead.

Thanks for your advice guys.

I have sent the following email to Blockchain:



Hi Mike,

As you can imagine, I’m very frustrated about not being able to gain access to my wallet as this represents a significant amount of money to me.

As I have the following information:

Set up e-mail address
Confirmation email from Blockchian.com for set up
Wallet ID
Password
17 word mnemonic code (17 as it was set up in 2014)

This should be all the information I need and the apparent change in email address is out of my control.


The email address isn't involved in encryption as the "wallet.aes.json" file on your server can exclusively be decrypted by the password.

I am seeking advice on a crypto forum. Blockchain.com has reverted email addresses for forum members and this what I am asking for you to do.


Please could you help me to gain access to my wallet by reverting the email to the original set up email.

Your records should show this and I can provide proof as I have emails from blockchain.com to this email address.


Many Thanks,

This is the response from Blockchain. I re-iterated that I had the original email address and would like the current email (which i don't recognise) to be changed back:

Hello,
 
Thank you for your message and I am sorry to hear about this. If there is an email change that may have performed in your account that you do not recognize then your account should be considered as compromised and it should be no longer used.
 
Unfortunately, we are unable to help recover or reset passwords, nor can we change back the email address of that account. This is not a matter of policy; this is due to the very way the file encryption is designed. If you’ve forgotten your password, please try every possible password combination you may have used when you created your wallet, bearing in mind punctuation and capitalization. If your account was compromised, then I am afraid that this is likely the reason you are unable to access it.
 
If you backed up your wallet using its 12 word recovery phrase, then you can recover access to your account by clicking here or by clicking "Forgot Password" on the mobile app. If the "Continue" button is inactive or you receive an “Invalid Recovery Phrase” error, then the recovery phrase submitted is inaccurate.
 
If you do not have the correct password or an accurate recovery phrase, then access to the wallet and any funds contained in your DeFi Wallet have been lost. You can read more about how our wallet works here: How it Works | Blockchain's Non-Custodial Wallet
 
If a wallet becomes compromised, it should not be used to hold funds. You can visit https://login.blockchain.com/#/signup and create a new wallet with a new email address and a new, unique password. Before sending funds to this new wallet, complete all Security Center steps under the Basic tab. This includes verifying your email, enabling 2FA, and making a backup.
 


I have no idea what to do now. Looking back at my emails from Blockchain, I had the confirmation of account set up straight away. Then in 2017 I had an email asking me to confirm my email (I can't remember seeing this at the time so I assume that I didn't) Then finally I had one in 2018 which was a news letter. If the account has become de-activated, would it have been linked to another email address? Any ideas what to do?

This is the response from Blockchain. I re-iterated that I had the original email address and would like the current email (which i don't recognise) to be changed back:

Hello,
 
Thank you for your message and I am sorry to hear about this. If there is an email change that may have performed in your account that you do not recognize then your account should be considered as compromised and it should be no longer used.
 
Unfortunately, we are unable to help recover or reset passwords, nor can we change back the email address of that account. This is not a matter of policy; this is due to the very way the file encryption is designed. If you’ve forgotten your password, please try every possible password combination you may have used when you created your wallet, bearing in mind punctuation and capitalization. If your account was compromised, then I am afraid that this is likely the reason you are unable to access it.
 
If you backed up your wallet using its 12 word recovery phrase, then you can recover access to your account by clicking here or by clicking "Forgot Password" on the mobile app. If the "Continue" button is inactive or you receive an “Invalid Recovery Phrase” error, then the recovery phrase submitted is inaccurate.
 
If you do not have the correct password or an accurate recovery phrase, then access to the wallet and any funds contained in your DeFi Wallet have been lost. You can read more about how our wallet works here: How it Works | Blockchain's Non-Custodial Wallet
 
If a wallet becomes compromised, it should not be used to hold funds. You can visit https://login.blockchain.com/#/signup and create a new wallet with a new email address and a new, unique password. Before sending funds to this new wallet, complete all Security Center steps under the Basic tab. This includes verifying your email, enabling 2FA, and making a backup.
 


I have no idea what to do now. Looking back at my emails from Blockchain, I had the confirmation of account set up straight away. Then in 2017 I had an email asking me to confirm my email (I can't remember seeing this at the time so I assume that I didn't) Then finally I had one in 2018 which was a news letter. If the account has become de-activated, would it have been linked to another email address? Any ideas what to do?

Thank you for your advice.

I have asked support to change the email back to the original one used to create the wallet. I'm not sure they will as nothing has been easy so far and they seem to have no trace of this email address.

I'm being pessimistic but if I ever do get access to my wallet I suspect the contents will be gone ;-(

If someone has changed the email address they surely they would have had access.

To be honest, dealing with Blockchain.com support is like hitting my head against a wall.

It also seems crazy that when you change the email address for the wallet, that confirmation isn't sent to the original email address. Basically there is no way of knowing that someone has hacked your wallet.

Although I have given the email address used to set up the wallet, they don't seem to have the ability to track this. What I need is for them to change the email back to the original one but I don't think they will.

They have advised me (via a lot of cut and paste paragraphs) to set up a new wallet, give them evidence that I think the original wallet is compromised, then transfer contents from the old wallet to the new one.


How am I going to do that when:

1 I don't have access to the original one
 
2 The contents of the original wallet are almost certainly gone!


So I have the following info:

Original email address used to set up the wallet
Wallet Identifier
Password
17 word phrase

Yet despite this, they are offering zero help to access my own wallet.

Massively frustrated.

I checked my emails from Blockchain and there were none to report a change in email address.

I'll report as hacked and see what happens.

I actually found the email address associated with my Blockchain.com wallet (it was the one I thought it was all along and I found the confirmation emails from Blockchain upon set up) This is a functional email but wasn't working on the Blockchain login. After much discussion with Blockchain support, they searched using my wallet ID.

They said this ID is linked to an email address which definitely isn't mine (they didn't give me the full address but a couple of letters)

Should I assume that my wallet has been hacked and that the hackers changed the email address?

I have no idea what to do now. Do Blockchain have a fraud department?

I have the set up email address and all security info.

Just an update on this.

In the email address that I originally thought was associated with the account (and one which they deny is linked to the account) I have found a number of emails.

The first, in 2014 was a welcome to my wallet email. This has the wallet ID which matches what i had written down.

There's another in 2017 asking me to verify the email (whether I did or not I have no idea)

Then there were two emails in late 2017 asking about attempted log ins from a mobile phone.

A final one was sent in 2018 regarding EDPR updates.


So I have sent another message to blockchain customer support.

There has been a number of emails and basically they keep asking for the e-mail address that was used to set up the wallet.

From their part, there hasn't been any other suggestions how to solve this.

My last response to them (which was on Sunday) was to give them a couple more email addresses to try. The ones I have given are not active but it seems if I can at least give them the address then I have a chance.

If there's a negative response then I have no idea.

Surely, people losing emails addresses after 10 years is a pretty common thing, so there should be another mechanism, as long as all the other security info is correct.

I agree it's not particularly great on my part.

When I set the wallet up in 2014 a bitcoin was not a huge amount of money and I was using multiple e-mail addresses, some of which are inactive now.

I have 100% of the security info written down.

I'm now waiting for the support team to get back to me after making some more email suggestions.

No, unfortunately i didn't do this.

I have 100% of the security info, it seems crazy that the one thing that is preventing access is an email address. I must have used an address that I have forgotten about and has probably been deactivated now.

Thousands of financial websites have mechanisms for dealing with lost emails, it's crazy that blockchain.com doesn't. It's a lot of money at stake.