Oh, I thought maybe I'd made a friend... :'(

Tbh, I'd be curious if it's even recoverable and what triggered the ban. I just got an email out of the blue asking me to fill out a captcha, reply to an SMS and send a selfie. I did all that and just got a reply I had violated "community guidelines" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Since it was a private account I never posted anything on, I was racking my brain what could have possibly got me flagged. All I did was reply to pics of ppl's pets (and sometimes cute girlies). Definitely nothing abusive.

From what I've read, the SMS was used just to automatically block any new account you make.