diff --git a/cms/envs/common.py b/cms/envs/common.py
index 32310f9c24..f6221f1590 100644
--- a/cms/envs/common.py
+++ b/cms/envs/common.py
@@ -276,6 +276,10 @@ FEATURES = {
     # Whether or not the dynamic EnrollmentTrackUserPartition should be registered.
     'ENABLE_ENROLLMENT_TRACK_USER_PARTITION': True,
 
+    # Whether to send an email for failed password reset attempts or not. This is mainly useful for notifying users
+    # that they don't have an account associated with email addresses they believe they've registered with.
+    'ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET_FAILURE_EMAIL': False,
+
     # Whether archived courses (courses with end dates in the past) should be
     # shown in Studio in a separate list.
     'ENABLE_SEPARATE_ARCHIVED_COURSES': True,
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/student_account/test/test_views.py b/lms/djangoapps/student_account/test/test_views.py
index 37722ff1fc..f5f9a20e1a 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/student_account/test/test_views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/student_account/test/test_views.py
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ from openedx.core.djangoapps.user_api.errors import UserAPIInternalError
 LOGGER_NAME = 'audit'
 User = get_user_model()  # pylint:disable=invalid-name
 
+FEATURES_WITH_FAILED_PASSWORD_RESET_EMAIL = settings.FEATURES.copy()
+FEATURES_WITH_FAILED_PASSWORD_RESET_EMAIL['ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET_FAILURE_EMAIL'] = True
+
 
 @ddt.ddt
 class StudentAccountUpdateTest(CacheIsolationTestCase, UrlResetMixin):
@@ -140,6 +143,28 @@ class StudentAccountUpdateTest(CacheIsolationTestCase, UrlResetMixin):
             self._change_password()
             self.assertRaises(UserAPIInternalError)
 
+    @override_settings(FEATURES=FEATURES_WITH_FAILED_PASSWORD_RESET_EMAIL)
+    def test_password_reset_failure_email(self):
+        """Test that a password reset failure email notification is sent, when enabled."""
+        # Log the user out
+        self.client.logout()
+
+        bad_email = 'doesnotexist@example.com'
+        response = self._change_password(email=bad_email)
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
+
+        # Check that an email was sent
+        self.assertEqual(len(mail.outbox), 1)
+
+        # Verify that the body contains the failed password reset message
+        email_body = mail.outbox[0].body
+        self.assertIn(
+            'However, there is currently no user account associated with your email address: {email}'.format(
+                email=bad_email
+            ),
+            email_body,
+        )
+
     @ddt.data(True, False)
     def test_password_change_logged_out(self, send_email):
         # Log the user out
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/student_account/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/student_account/views.py
index 2358cf8edc..7d4b803011 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/student_account/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/student_account/views.py
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib import messages
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
-from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
-from django.http import HttpResponse, HttpResponseBadRequest, HttpResponseForbidden
+from django.core.mail import send_mail
+from django.core.urlresolvers import resolve, reverse
+from django.http import HttpRequest, HttpResponse, HttpResponseBadRequest, HttpResponseForbidden
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
+from django.template import loader
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
 from django.views.decorators.csrf import ensure_csrf_cookie
 from django.views.decorators.http import require_http_methods
@@ -216,6 +218,25 @@ def password_change_request_handler(request):
             AUDIT_LOG.info("Invalid password reset attempt")
             # Increment the rate limit counter
             limiter.tick_bad_request_counter(request)
+
+            # If enabled, send an email saying that a password reset was attempted, but that there is
+            # no user associated with the email
+            if configuration_helpers.get_value('ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET_FAILURE_EMAIL',
+                                               settings.FEATURES['ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET_FAILURE_EMAIL']):
+                context = {
+                    'failed': True,
+                    'email_address': email,
+                    'platform_name': configuration_helpers.get_value('platform_name', settings.PLATFORM_NAME),
+
+                }
+                subject = loader.render_to_string('emails/password_reset_subject.txt', context)
+                subject = ''.join(subject.splitlines())
+                message = loader.render_to_string('registration/password_reset_email.html', context)
+                from_email = configuration_helpers.get_value('email_from_address', settings.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL)
+                try:
+                    send_mail(subject, message, from_email, [email])
+                except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+                    log.exception(u'Unable to send password reset failure email notification from "%s"', from_email)
         except UserAPIInternalError as err:
             log.exception('Error occured during password change for user {email}: {error}'
                           .format(email=email, error=err))
diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index 42898fae2c..b62ed7413a 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -418,6 +418,10 @@ FEATURES = {
 
     # Whether HTML XBlocks/XModules return HTML content with the Course Blocks API student_view_data
     'ENABLE_HTML_XBLOCK_STUDENT_VIEW_DATA': False,
+
+    # Whether to send an email for failed password reset attempts or not. This is mainly useful for notifying users
+    # that they don't have an account associated with email addresses they believe they've registered with.
+    'ENABLE_PASSWORD_RESET_FAILURE_EMAIL': False,
 }
 
 # Settings for the course reviews tool template and identification key, set either to None to disable course reviews
diff --git a/lms/templates/registration/password_reset_email.html b/lms/templates/registration/password_reset_email.html
index c41419d4a5..611863b5b1 100644
--- a/lms/templates/registration/password_reset_email.html
+++ b/lms/templates/registration/password_reset_email.html
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 {% load i18n %}{% autoescape off %}
 {% blocktrans %}You're receiving this e-mail because you requested a password reset for your user account at {{ platform_name }}.{% endblocktrans %}
 
+{% if failed %}
+{% blocktrans %}However, there is currently no user account associated with your email address: {{ email_address }}.{% endblocktrans %}
+
+{% trans "If you did not request this change, you can ignore this email." %}
+{% else %}
 {% trans "Please go to the following page and choose a new password:" %}
 {% block reset_link %}
 {{ protocol }}://{{ site_name }}{% url 'password_reset_confirm' uidb36=uid token=token %}
@@ -9,6 +14,7 @@
 {% trans "If you didn't request this change, you can disregard this email - we have not yet reset your password." %}
 
 {% trans "Thanks for using our site!" %}
+{% endif %}
 
 {% blocktrans %}The {{ platform_name }} Team{% endblocktrans %}