Cannot verify phone number or use any other method to redeem points

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

Please know that phone verification is required to redeem Microsoft Rewards, you’re unfortunately stuck until the system recognizes your phone number as valid for this Microsoft account. Right now, there isn’t a manual or alternative way to verify a phone number on your own if the system says it’s already in use.

Because of that, this isn’t something you can fix from your side. Only Microsoft Rewards support can review the account and release or reassign the phone number if it’s incorrectly linked elsewhere. I know that’s not the answer you were hoping for, especially when you’ve earned the points and can’t use them yet.

You’ve already done the right thing by submitting a support ticket, at this point, waiting for their response is the only real path forward.

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

What’s happening here is tied to how Microsoft’s identity system works. When you see “phone number already taken,” it usually means that the number is already linked to another Microsoft account somewhere in the system. This could be an old account you created years ago, or even a group/organization account if your number was used for verification there. The same goes for emails — if the system says “belongs to a group,” it means that email is tied to a managed domain or organization, so it can’t be added as a personal recovery option.

Because phone verification is required for redeeming rewards, you’re stuck until the account system recognizes your number as valid for your current account. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to override that yourself. The only fix is through Microsoft Support, since they can check which account your number is tied to and release it if appropriate.

The good news is that your points aren’t lost. They’ll stay in your account until you can verify and redeem them. The bad news is that you’ll need to wait for support to respond to your ticket, because only they can untangle the phone/email association issue. If you haven’t already, you can also try submitting through the Microsoft Rewards support form rather than general support, since that team handles these specific verification problems.