Yes, I sent them the email from the email address that the account was originally opened with.  However, I don't know what it was changed to after the account was hijacked, so who knows what the current registered address is.  This was their response to me:

"Unfortunately since the account has no relevant history that could help us with the recovery process, we have decided that it will remain locked. If you want to continue using our platform, our suggestion is to create a new account using a different email address as it will have the exact same privileges as this one.  Thank you for your understanding."

Here is the address I'd like to stake:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
I am axel20 in bitcointalk.org.  Today is July 16th, 2024.  I am signing this to prove ownership of my account.
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
bc1qkskpfj6a7wg2f279lt94sl2tma0lnn93yrgdp3
KIF4FgIsucDPon7jb9qPPo7Mgx+NVZFp3e/uRIK7HgPwCsC4YUmGnwquYDMABTzX9KadbW+u9liriwikgTX/vQg=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

I have my own firewall at home (OPNsense) and installed Wireguard in it and I use that as my personal VPN when I'm away from home.  The added benefit is it puts me inside my home network, and is a safer method than opening up ports on the firewall for services like SSH and RDP.

I would highly recommend Windows 11 over Windows 10, but if you have an older laptop, it's highly likely that it doesn't have the TPM 2.0 chip needed to run Windows 11.

Update: The admins have decided not to restore my original hijacked account because they feel there is not enough evidence to do so.  Oh well.  I gave it a shot. 

Now that you mention this, is there any advantage at all over the 24 word backup to the 12?  I've heard that there's really not much difference in terms of security, but I see lots of comments from folks who subscribe to the "more words means more secure" mindset.

Yes, the single share is actually the default backup option.  I tried it out last night.  After backing up the wallet, I reformatted the Trezor and tried restoring it from the 20 word list and it worked.  I guess I'm not understanding the advantage of this over a regular 12 or 24 word backup.

I just got a Trezor Safe 3 and set it up last night. For the backup method, I chose the default selection of Shamir single share (20 words).  However, I've been thinking about it and I'm wondering if there is any advantage of using Shamir single share vs the legacy method?  I don't intend to upgrade to Shamir multi-share later and I know the biggest advantage of the Shamir method is being able to break up the seed into multiple shares that you can distribute, but I don't really want to do that.  This being the case, is there any advantage of sticking with Shamir single share vs the legacy 12 or 24 word method?

This is good advice.  I don't plan to play the "just keep waiting" game before I start investing.  I plan to buy BTC here and there as finances permit and HODL for the long term.  I'm not really concerned if the price of BTC falls because we all know it's going to go up again in time.  I don't mind waiting.

I did, but it wasn't just because of the account hack.  I'm glad to be back and look forward to building up my BTC again.

Well, the hacked account certainly didn't help, but that wasn't the only factor.  A lot of other things happened around that time in my life (major death in the family, new job, wife got pregnant, new 2nd job) so I guess you could say that life got in the way and my focus shifted.

Honestly, it's kind of funny, but what led me back to crypto was getting an email newsletter from Trezor announcing their new Safe 5.  I went to the site to check it out and then noticed the Safe 3, which I was drawn to because of the price.  Then I was curious about how BTC was doing lately since I haven't kept up, so I went to various financial and business sites to check it out and they all said that the future of BTC is still promising, so I decided to the plunge.  I ordered the Safe 3 and I'm going to start buying BTC again to hold.  I don't have any specific strategies at the moment related to BTC.  I just plan to hold for the duration.

I'm not sure what you mean here.  Are you saying you pirated the current version of Windows that you are using?  You can download the Windows 11 iso file free from Microsoft.  I think they still want you to pay to register the software, but I don't think it is required; you will just get a nag message on the desktop saying it's not registered and they won't let you personalize some parts of it (like the desktop background) until you do.

Good advice, thank you.  I'm definitely trying to get my old account back.  We'll see what happens. *fingers crossed*

Well, I never really stopped holding bitcoin.  I mean, I still have a little bit left, but I haven't really bought any since then.  I was distracted by other things in life and working three jobs, so it just kind of fell off my radar.  Ironically, I recently received an email newsletter from Trezor announcing the Trezor Safe 5, which I thought was interesting, so I went to their website and noticed they also had the Safe 3, which had the same security features without the touch screen for almost $100 less.  I was intrigued.  I started reading on different websites to see what the current impression of BTC was and it seemed very optimistic about the future, so I decided to take the plunge, by the Safe 3, and start buying BTC again as I get the chance.

I use Apple computers at home primarily, but I do have a work laptop running Windows 11.  I would say that yes, it does matter whether you keep using a version of Windows that is no longer supported.  That means there won't be security updates anymore, which puts you at higher risk of attack/exploitation.

Yeah, I'm hoping I can get my original account back, but if not, I understand.  My password at the time wasn't super secure and I don't think that 2FA as an additional security measure was available back then.  What's odd, is I never got an email that said "hey, your password was just changed.  If you didn't want that, let us know" .  I didn't find out until I couldn't log in anymore.

Thanks!  Yep, that's my original account!  I followed those instructions and sent an email from the account that it was first registered to upon creation.  We'll see what happens.

My original account username was axel2078.  I had been on the forum for years, finally becoming a full member and then one day when I tried to log in, I couldn't anymore and I noticed someone else was posting using my account.  I sent a message to the mods right away, but they asked me to provide some kind of digital signing proof that the account was mine and I had no idea how to do that.  I wish I could provide something to you that would prove that I was the original owner, but I don't know what that could be aside from the email address that it was opened with.  Would I like to get my old account back? Sure, that would be great, but if it's not possible, I understand.

I've been out of the crypto game for a few years now and I'm just now kind of dipping my toes into the water again.  Admittedly, I was a little angry when my original account on here got hijacked a few years ago and I wasn't able to get it back.  Oh well, water under the bridge, right?  Anyway, I just ordered a Trezor Safe 3 to start "hodling" again.  I've been reading different news sources about the future potential of BTC and it still looks pretty bright.  What is your personal view?  Are you still optimistic?  Riding the fence?  I'm curious.  Thanks.