Coinbase customer loses username and couldn't retrieve it

RICHMOND, Calif. (KGO) -- If you're like most people, you've had occasions when you've forgotten your user name or password. Chances are you answered a few security questions and soon you're off and running with a new user name. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for a Richmond woman.

Tho Duong bought some cryptocurrency several years ago on the website Coinbase. The Richmond woman used the site to buy,sell and even hold her digital currency.

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Suddenly her access to the site was cut off when she changed jobs. That left her investment in limbo.

"You don't know if your money still in there or somebody take it out," said Duong.

Tho used her work email as her user name.

But when she changed jobs, that email was disabled. She notified Coinbase to try to change her user name.

"They say its ok, they will handle it. But I waited for a while, nothing happened," Tho said.

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Tho said a customer service agent told her to stop calling-that she would have to wait for a specialist to call her.

But a total of four months went by with still no resolution. She reached out to 7 on Your Side and we contacted Coinbase.

The company told us "We moved her assets from her old, inaccessible account to her new account. I also offered to help enable buys and sells on her new account."

Coinbase resolved her case within two days after being contacted by 7 on Your Side. She was stunned

"It's done. It looks like magic," she said.

Coinbase says its increased staff on its customer support team by 150 percent and significantly decreased the backlog of cases. It blamed some of its problems on rapid customer growth.

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