It looks like someone else might be using your account

My wife is tying so hard to get her email back but seems to be in some continuous loop.  For some random reason Outlook asked her to enter a password even though she has been using this account daily for around 5 years.  I am not sure if she entered an incorrect password or what but her account is now locked.  Every time we reset her password a message appears saying "it looks like someone else is using your account" and asks for a security code.  When we click on this link and request the code to be sent to the alternative email nothing happens.  We have checked any spam or junk in boxes but no luck the code is simply not there.

If we click through and try and fill in the on line verification form all that happens is I get and email saying

"We recently received a request to recover your Microsoft account *** Email address is removed for privacy ***. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify your ownership of this account using the information you provided. Microsoft takes the security and privacy of your personal information very seriously, and we are committed to protecting the personal information of customers. We have taken the additional step of blocking your account *** Email address is removed for privacy *** until we can verify you as the account owner. This will prevent any further use of the account, and protect you from any possible malicious activity.