Thanks for the replay Marc, that clears up my confusion.
I had chance to ask John Mueller (from Google) what to do about spammy backlinks and he automatically assumed I was up to no good. I've never bought a crappy link in my life. Previously hired SEOs and/or unscrupulous competition were likely the culprits. We can take accountability for ignorantly hiring shady link builders but apologizing for being a victim of negative SEO is flat out ludicrous.
