My dh told me not even to "hover" over a link in an email like this. Forwarding the email to
[email protected] is the way to go. When I have done that in the past, I have gotten a very fast response telling me whether the email was legit or not.
A good general rule is never to click on a link in an email. Type in the address yourself if need be.
To be honest, the original description sounds like the email is bad. I have had PayPal for years, and the only "verifying" I had to do was when I first set up the account -- verifying the bank by depositing a couple of pennies in the account, which I think also verifies your address. Times may have changed, but there was never any "initial limit" set on my PayPal account.