Account Banned Without Warning During the Night (Pro Plan) - No Reply After 24 Hours – Case ID: C-Q1IdCmB1ODIJ

ChatGPT Support
1

Hi everyone,

About 36 hours ago, my OpenAI account was deactivated out of nowhere. I woke up in the morning to the official automated email stating:

“Your account has been banned because recent activity violated our Terms and Usage Policies. This means your account can no longer be used. If you believe this decision was made in error, use the button below to start an appeal.”

I am 100% convinced this is a false positive. I know that over the last few days, OpenAI officially acknowledged a glitch on X that caused several accounts to be incorrectly suspended, and I am clearly caught in this delayed wave.

Here is my account context:

  • Main Usage: Software development via Codex on a Pro Plan ($100/month).

  • No prior warnings: I have never received any warning, flag, or policy violation alert before this happened.

  • Account was idle: At the exact time of the ban, I was fast asleep and the account was completely inactive (no scripts running, no API requests).

I submitted an official appeal, but it has now been over 24 hours and I haven’t received any response (neither positive nor negative). This is a corporate account used for daily technical operations, and this downtime is causing a direct business disruption.

@OpenAI_Support could someone please take a quick look at my case and review my plan?

  • Case ID: C-Q1IdCmB1ODIJ

If anyone else has been hit by this specific wave or managed to get a fast resolution, please let me know. Any visibility or help from the staff would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

2

I’m experiencing a very similar issue. My OpenAI account was deactivated without any prior warning, and I believe it may be a false positive.

My usage was primarily Codex/software development on a paid plan. I have already submitted an official appeal through the link in the deactivation email, but I have not received a response yet.

Case ID: C-rLzbKQI3Be5e

@OpenAI_Support Could someone please review this case when possible? This account is used for daily technical work and the downtime is causing business disruption.

3

UPDATE (5 Days Later): Still blocked, support loop, and locked out of creating a new account

I wanted to provide a frustrating update on my situation, as it has now been nearly 5 days since the automated ban, and things have only gotten worse.

1. The Support Loop: I received a series of completely useless automated/bot replies from OpenAI Support. First, an automated script told me the case was “under review,” completely ignoring the fact that the system had already sent a definitive automated rejection email stating they would “no longer consider additional requests.” The support channels are clearly not communicating with each other, and no human has actually looked at this clear false positive.

2. Paid Subscription & Tax Compliance Issues: To recap, OpenAI processed our $100 Pro renewal fee just 3 days before banning the account. As of today, they have withheld our corporate funds, issued no refund, and because I am locked out of the portal, I cannot even download the official tax invoice required by our company’s accounting department.

3. Blocked from creating a new account (Phone Number Issue): Lost for options and needing to resume our daily technical operations, today I tried to sign up for a brand new account. However, the system blocked me with this error: “This phone number is already linked to the maximum number of accounts.”

Here is the anomaly: I have never linked my phone number to my OpenAI account. For 2FA, I strictly use an authenticator app, never SMS. It seems my identity or data is entirely bugged or flagged in their system due to this glitch.

4. EU Regulations Violations: Operating within the European Union, this entire situation is breaching multiple regulations:

  • GDPR (Art. 22): I am being denied human intervention over a purely algorithmic, automated decision.

  • Digital Services Act (DSA): OpenAI failed to provide a specific, reasoned statement for the ban.

  • Financial/Tax Regulations: Denying a business access to its official invoices for a paid service is unlawful.

At this point, OpenAI has taken our money, cut off our service, blocked our tax documents, and is actively preventing us from even creating a new profile.

@OpenAI_Support Given the significant impact on our daily operations, we kindly ask the OpenAI staff or a human moderator to look into this anomaly. Any help to break this automated loop and review Case ID: C-Q1IdCmB1ODIJ would be truly appreciated.

4

Hey @s.colao, that's really unfortunate. Apologies for the delay in getting back.

I'll prioritize your case and transfer it to the specialized team. They'll review it and take the needed steps if the account should be unblocked.

Avinash

5

Thank you so much, Avinash! Really appreciate your quick help in escalating this. We truly hope to have our account back up and running soon so we can resume our operations.

Have a great day!

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Hello sleep, I couldn't locate your case using the ID you provided. Could you double-check that it's correct, or share the case number if you have one?

Avinash

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Request ID: 8f63d27b-399e-4b93-8f29-df3170ecd765Dear OpenAI Support,My Codex Pro account was permanently banned on June 9, 2026 — about 6 hours after I subscribed via the US Apple App Store. There was no prior warning and no specific policy citation. I had used less than 10% of my weekly allowance. I’ve submitted three appeals, each receiving the same automated “duplicate ticket closed” response without any human review.This has had a serious impact beyond just losing access to a tool:
Over the past week, I had been building a company knowledge base and resource library on Codex to streamline our internal operations. All of that work is now locked in an inaccessible account
The sudden loss of access has caused significant disruption to our company’s workflow, placing tremendous pressure on daily operations
The situation has escalated to the point where I am now facing professional consequences, including being asked to step down from my role
Additionally:
$200 was charged at subscription and has not been refunded, yet I’m unable to access the paid service
My account is fully locked, meaning I cannot retrieve billing history, receipts, or tax invoices needed for accounting
I fully understand the need for platform security and respect your enforcement processes. However, I believe this may be a case of mistaken enforcement, as I have always used the service normally and in good faith.I kindly ask for:
A manual human review — not another automated closure
Clarification on which policy was triggered, or confirmation if this was a false positive
Thank you for your time. I truly hope this can be looked into personally.@OpenAI_Support — Request ID: 8f63d27b-399e-4b93-8f29-df3170ecd765

8

That's unfortunate, BaiYU

Please share the case number so I can take a look.

Avinash

11

Hi everyone,

It has now been over a week since Avinash @avinash.api kindly escalated my case (Case ID: C-Q1IdCmB1ODIJ / Ticket: 09873707) to the specialized team, but unfortunately, I haven’t received any updates or emails yet.

Our corporate development operations via Codex remain completely halted, and we are still locked out of our paid Pro account (with no access to our official tax invoices).

I completely understand that the team is busy, but given the significant daily impact on our business, we would be incredibly grateful for any quick update or breakthrough.

@OpenAI_Support is there any chance someone could check if there’s any progress on this manual review?

Thank you again for your patience and help.

Stefano

12

I'll make sure your case gets the attention it deserves, s.colao.

Avinash