My usual Gmail username, which I registered for on the first day of Gmail, has a period in it.
Someone has registered for an Apple ID using that Gmail username without any periods. So Apple, knowing that Gmail ignores periods, won't let me set up an Apple ID using my Gmail address.
However, I can change the password for that existing Apple ID - since the password reset emails go to my Gmail, as they should - but I cannot log in because I do not know that user's security questions.
In a nutshell, I'm trying to figure out how someone was able to set up an Apple ID using my Gmail address, even though I have always owned that Gmail address. And I'm trying to figure out how I can reclaim that Apple ID and/or prevent that individual from using an Apple ID with my Gmail username.