I had never seen this before. When recently changing my master password on the Origin Store, in addition to a few "Click this link" e-mails to confirm it was really me, I was given a set of six long numbers. Supposedly, should the associated e-mail address go poof or be otherwise inaccessible, these six numbers can be used to regain access to the account. That's not a bad method from a security perspective, and it can be useful considering the non-permanence of some e-mail addresses.