My AWS account was suspended over an unpaid balance of roughly $3. I'm ready to pay, but I can't sign in. The root email uses my business domain, and that domain's DNS is hosted in Route 53 under the suspended account, so mail delivery has stopped. I also can't complete MFA because the phone containing the authenticator is no longer working. This prevents password resets, verification emails, and the normal MFA recovery process. What is the best way to contact AWS, update the root email after proving ownership, recover access, or pay the balance without logging in?
3 Answers
Since you can’t access the account, contact the AWS Account team through the account-support contact form rather than the normal sign-in flow. Explain that the account is suspended, the root mailbox depends on DNS in that account, and MFA is unavailable. They’ll need to verify that you’re the account owner before helping with payment or changing the root email.
This is likely to take some time because AWS has to rule out an account takeover when both the root email and MFA are inaccessible. Be prepared to provide billing details, account information, and proof of ownership. Once access is restored, move the account’s recovery email and DNS hosting to a separate, independent service so one suspension can’t disable everything at once.
As a temporary workaround, you can recreate the domain’s DNS records with another DNS provider so the business mailbox starts receiving mail again. Make sure you copy all required records, especially MX, SPF, DKIM, and verification records. This won’t solve the AWS login or MFA problem, but it may restore access to the root mailbox.
I submitted a case through the contact form, but I can’t see the case number because the suspension also stopped delivery to the account email. I’ll include the account ID and explain that issue in the request.