I lost access to the MFA device on my AWS account and tried the alternative recovery options using the phone number already registered to the account. Unfortunately, neither the SMS nor the automated phone call delivers an OTP, even though the number is active and appears correct. AWS support then required government ID verification, affidavits, and notarization to remove MFA. After submitting those documents, they requested additional proof of the notary's credentials. I no longer need to use the account—I only want to log in once, close it, and move on. Has anyone found an effective way to escalate this kind of recovery case or resolve a missing OTP when the registered phone number seems correct?
2 Answers
This OTP issue seems to happen even with valid, working phone numbers, and there may be no useful delivery tracking or explanation when the message or call fails. The most practical route appears to be continuing through the formal MFA-removal process and asking support to escalate the case for manual review.
Before submitting more documents, carefully compare the phone number format in the account with the format expected for international dialing. A country code combined with a local number that still starts with 0 can cause automated SMS and call verification to fail, even when the number itself is active. If the format is correct, keep the existing support case open and request escalation for a manual account-recovery review.
My case was eventually resolved after AWS reviewed the notarized documents and the notary’s credentials again. The underlying problem was the phone number format: I’m in India, and autofill had entered it with an extra leading zero after the +91 country code. AWS required the international format without that zero, so checking the exact stored format is worthwhile.