[vijayp]

Yeah, maybe human review is not the most scalable solution; if data analysis shows that certain patterns of behaviour are highly predictive of an account takeover, there are almost certainly product solutions for them.

I guess the real question is what the data actually show

[pbhjpbhj]

How about "we'll review your request for $20". For recovery of email accounts and such Google could absolutely make a profit from that I feel and enable people to recover their accounts; they can surely scale a support system on that sort of funding.

Sure I can see problems with that. My initial feeling is people will thing that such support is a scam, but that at least shifts the position of Google from "we can do such support" to "we don't want people bad mouthing us so we're going to refuse to do that support even if it were prima facie profitable".