How do you delete a Torn account?

Deletion is self-service: close the account instantly in Preferences, wait 14 days, then return to confirm deletion. "Deleting" doesn't erase the account — it sanitizes it of personal data (email, password, IPs, profile/forum/bazaar details) so you can no longer log in, but the account itself, its items and money remain and it stays interactable by other players^[1][2].

Current process

1. In Preferences, use the Account Closer system to close the account — this is instant and blocks all access to Torn^[1][2].
2. Wait 14 days. The closure can be cancelled at any point during this window^[2][3].
3. Return to Preferences and confirm deletion to complete the process^[1][2].

“Now, a player can instantly close their account via the preferences page which will block access to all pages.” — Chedburn, Developer, 26 Feb 2019^[4]

Deletion is sanitization, not erasure: email address, encrypted password, IP addresses, profile details, profile/forum signatures, bazaar description and all security panel details are wiped, but the account, its items, money and general interactability remain — it can still be attacked by other players, as if the owner had simply gone inactive^[1][2][4]. No source in this pack states whether faction positions, company jobs or owned properties are specifically removed on closure or deletion; only this general interactability is documented.

• A recovery key is issued on deletion; only the owner has it, and it's the only way to restore the account afterward — staff cannot restore it, and losing the key means the account is gone for good^[2].
• A player may only have one non-deleted account at any time; to restart, the old account must be fully taken through the deletion process first^[1][2][4].
• Moving items or cash from an account being deleted to a new account (directly or via a friend) is prohibited and results in a federal jail sentence plus the items being stripped and purged from the game; a restarted account begins brand-new, 1 day old, with no referral^[2].

If you can't log into an old account

Staff have said that if you can't access the account to run the closure flow yourself, you can email webmaster@torn.com from the email address registered to that account and ask for it to be stripped of details. Staff do not place the account in federal jail based on such a request, so other players can still interact with it in the meantime^[5].

History

Before 26 February 2019 there was no self-service option: a player had to contact a staff member to request deletion and return 48 hours later to confirm; once staff deleted the account (or the player "self-fedded") it was irrecoverable^[4]. The developer launched the automated Account Closure system on that date, moving deletion into the player's own hands and extending the wait to the current 14 days^[4].

Whether a freed name becomes available depends on outcome: if an account is fully deleted the name may later become available, but it is not released if the player is merely inactive or in federal jail; staff also noted some names can be bought back with a premium amount of points, though the exact logic was unclear even to them^[6].

Separately, staff said in 2015 that accounts under level 5 that have never donated and have been inactive 1000+ days are eligible for automatic staff-side deletion for inactivity, done in stages rather than instantly, and possibly no longer happening at all; donator accounts, regardless of level, and accounts over level 5 should not be deleted for inactivity under normal circumstances^[7][8]. This is distinct from the voluntary process above and may be out of date.