Just received an email which as far as I can tell is genuine, there’s no links to click or any other sign of it being from anyone other than apple.com.

You recently added [my email address] as your new Apple ID. To verify this email address belongs to you, enter the code below on the email verification page:

Why you received this email.
Apple requires verification whenever an email address is selected for your Apple ID. Your email cannot be used until you verify it.
If you did not make this change or you believe an unauthorized person has accessed your account, you should change your password as soon as possible from your Apple ID account page at https://appleid.apple.com/us/.
Apple Support

As far as I am aware I don't have an apple ID unless it's something I created donkeys years ago for some unknown reason, and my email address is unlikely to be one someone else enters by accident. What gives?

Is that actually apple.com?

Edit: ignore that.

As I said, as far as I can tell it is, yes.

A few “I’ve forgotten my password / ID / inside leg measurement” attempts later, I’m pretty certain now that I do not have an Apple ID (I’ve never owned an iDevice, the only thing I could think is maybe I needed one to download Quicktime or something back when the Internet was in black and white).

I had the same email yesterday. I don’t have any Apple products or accounts… so I reckon it’s likely to be some sort of scam. Could it be the result of an attack on Apple rather than trying to scam us?

Get them from Apple (or “Apple”) all the time.
I might have had an apple ID a very long time ago, but almost definitely not using the email address which receives them.
Scam or phishing, and presumably very elaborate. Or just testing mailing lists to see what bounces back undelivered?

Dunno. I just hit “mark as spam” on them.

Just log into iCloud and it will tell you if there are multiple addresses linked to your profile.

I’ve had about four similar emails today, varying quality, I’m just going through them now

Do you really think Apple would sign a genuine email, “Apple Support”? 😐

If it looks like a scam, walks like a scam, and quacks like a scam, it’s probably a scam.

back when the Internet was in black and white

Those where the days – they’d switch the internet off at 9 O’Clock and we’d all stand up and sing the national anthem.

Go to https://www.icloud.com and then to Forgot Apple ID or password?
Try the email address you’ve been quoted and if it doesn’t exist as an Apple ID you will get a message saying so. If it does exist, well…??

Incidentally, if I make changes to my iCloud account, the confirmation email is indeed from “Apple Support”.

Do you really think Apple would sign a genuine email, “Apple Support”?

If it looks like a scam, walks like a scam, and quacks like a scam, it’s probably a scam.

That’s what’s baffling me. As I said, there’s nothing to suggest it’s not from Apple. The sender IP address even checks out (17.151.1.84 – IP-Description: Apple Inc.,Cupertino,CA) and it passes SPF checks. There are no links to non-Apple websites – there are no links at all in fact, beyond the ones to Apple in the email footer.

Could it be the result of an attack on Apple rather than trying to scam us?

That’s not a bad shout actually – someone with a password list culled from an unrelated site, hammering logins in bulk. That could explain it. Odd that it emails me rather than coming back “not found” (which is what happens when I try to log in to a nonexistent account).

It could just be someone mistyping his or her email address and typing yours instead. So a random mistake on this person’s part rather than Apple’s.