If you have any doubts, I would just ignore all the emails (you are correct, can't trust them) and just go to faa.gov and deal with your business directly there.
I get the reminders but I sure as heck don't click thru; that's a bad bad habit if...
I can't believe sooo many people are too dumb to understand what you were saying. I got it straight away, maybe because I'm British. We understand these things.