Getting emails to finish setting up a card in wallet, but I haven't added any new ones.

Edit: TL:DR, it's a phishing email.

I've received two of these same emails from the same address listed. I contacted Apple Support and the person I spoke with said that if setup for a card in Apple Wallet had not been completed, you would be able to open settings and see a notification with a red number at the top of the settings app saying "finish setting up wallet" (or something like that). It's similar to skipping over items while setting up a new phone and you see a notification in settings that says "finish setting up your phone." She also mentioned that a legitimate email from apple for finishing setup should come from "noreply@email.apple.com."

She recommended moving the email to junk so that you don't receive it anymore.

Side note: if you open the same email on an iPad or a Mac, the blue "open wallet" button does not show. I suspect they're trying to keep people from using the cursor hover technique that shows link locations. The tech support rep also mentioned that, usually, it would be Apple's wallet icon, not a blue button.

Also, another tip off is the image of the "wallet" they use. It shows generic color cards while Apple's own website shows examples of cards from different banks (BoA), credit card companies (American Express), and even transit agencies (Clipper Card). I would think they would use the same thing in their emails.

So, I did multiple investigations into this including a call to Apple support. This is indeed an Apple email. I searched several domain ownership sites and they all came back with a subdomain owned by Apple. I called Apple support and escalated the issue and also received confirmation, the notification/email is indeed legitimate.

After a short discussion, it was decided a possible cause is a recent iOS update that the recipient may have done or was triggered by not having their account setup or not using their account.

The bottom line, it’s legitimate and nothing to worry about.

I’d ask Apple Support. The address looks right, but I’ve never seen this before. If you’re in the US please call 1-800-MY-APPLE or outside the US, consult the support article below.

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

I just wanted to say that I've had this exact thing happen to me recently as well. Received two of these emails from the exact email address as OP (**********@insideapple.apple.com), but yet I have not attempted to set up a new card in my Apple Pay at all and none of my existing cards have a warning to complete the setup process.

[Edited by Moderator]

Interesting. The only thing is that sender email addresses can be spoofed. I've seen it before. I did note on the OP's post that they had the "verified logo" notification, but I did not see that when I checked on my phone. I'm not sure how Apple's verification process works though. It's just too bad I was not able to "hover" over the blue "open wallet" button to see where the link takes you. If it was indeed for opening the app, there is a certain type of link code used for on device app triggers that would be somewhat noticeable. In any case, verifying using the settings app is the surest way to see if an unfinished wallet setup was indeed the cause.

Of course. One other thing that occurred to me, something I learned while going through my employer's IT security awareness training, is to check the time stamp. It's not a surefire solution for automated processes like Apple's notifications, but I did note that the receipts I receive from Apple for my subscription services come from the no_reply email address AND usually come through in the afternoon (my time). I would expect a similar time frame for these types of emails also. I would also expect consistency (like receiving them each day while the setup is unfinished). It could be a phisher using a spoofed email as the rep I spoke with suggested, or it could be a system process error on Apple's part, as Jeff suggested, that would cause inconsistencies.

I reporting the same email last week to: reportphishing@apple.com

I received another identical one today and have not recently added any cards to my wallet.

You’re welcome. I hope you have a great evening.