Comment by vmception

I've actually found it hysterical. The phone number question seems to be for their data mining as well as evidence. But anyone can get into any email address when prompted this way. It is possible to send a text to someone else's phone, the servers connected to phones online are often polluted but many times they are not. You can send a text to those and get the code.

Or of course, just send the code to anyone and SS7 hijack that specific text message. You aren't hacking them, after all, you're hacking yourself or someone else.