Problem with activating CloudFront distribution

Question

I have a public website (S3 hosted) for which I would like to activate CloudFront. However, while trying to create the distribution, I get an error:

*"Your account must be verified before you can add new CloudFront resources. To verify your account, please contact AWS Support (https://console.aws.amazon.com/support/home#/) and include this error message."
*
This is not a new account, I've been using it for many years, just haven't used CloudFront there before.
I did follow the suggestion and created the support case for account issues, quoting the error message. It remained unassigned for over two months, without any response or problem resolution. I thought maybe a glitch in support case routing, so opened another one. After couple of days I got a response like:

*"During our review of your account, we identified an active case (id) that we are currently working on to resolve this issue.

To prevent any confusion or delays, we have decided to resolve this case for you. 
.."
*
where by "resolve" is meant closing the ticket, without addressing the issue or even assigning the other case.

This is just basic support, so I do not expect immediate resolutions, but two and a half months? What is the expected wait time for such cases?

Steven · Answer

Hello, Kris.

A bit of context that may help: the message "Your account must be verified before you can add new CloudFront resources" is not a billing or technical fault on your side. CloudFront is a global, high-throughput content delivery service, so AWS applies an extra anti-abuse verification step before a distribution can be created. It can trigger even on long-standing accounts the first time you use CloudFront, so the fact that your account is years old is expected behavior here.

A few things that tend to move these cases along...
1. Use the right case category. Open the case under Account and billing, not Technical support. Account/billing support is free on every plan (including Basic), and these account-verification requests are routed to the team that can actually lift the flag. (Basic support cannot open technical cases, so if a case was filed under the wrong category it may not reach the right queue.)
2. Keep one case open and reply on it. Opening a second case can cause the duplicate to be merged or closed — which seems to be what happened to you. Add your updates as replies to the single active case rather than opening new ones.
3. Include the key details up front: your 12-digit account ID, the exact error message, the website/domain you intend to serve, and a short description of the use case. Also confirm your account contact and payment details are current, since verification checks those.
4. Request a live contact. As Sage noted, you can request phone or chat via go.aws/phone-support (https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/aws-phone-support/). This is available for account/billing topics at no charge and is usually faster than waiting on an unassigned case. Reference your open case ID when you connect.

On the wait time: AWS doesn't publish a formal SLA for account-verification reviews, but they're typically resolved within a few business days once the case reaches the verification team. Two and a half months is well outside the norm and points to a routing problem rather than a normal review backlog — which is exactly why I'd push for the live phone/chat contact above to get it re-routed.

AWS Support - Sage · Answer

Hi,

I'm sorry for the continued concern. You may be able to request a live contact using one of these methods: [go.aws/phone-support](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/aws-phone-support/). Continue to work with our teams via your open case.

\- Sage A.

Problem with activating CloudFront distribution

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