The latest link building scam. Discovered and analyzed

Last week I received the worst link building email in 14 years. Scammers combined with AI. What exactly was it about?

The message itself claimed to be from a law firm. It said that I had an image on one of their client’s websites.

OK, this is nothing new. Typically, an email like this ends with a demand for payment. Not in this case.

The “guys” here wanted me to put a link to their client in my content. If it wasn’t done in five days, they would sue me under the DMCA.

The first impression was a bit of a shock. The images on my sites have been paid or AI for the last few years, the older ones were always free photos. But what if…?

I checked the “company” website. And immediately it was a bit clearer.

Ugly graphics, no real contacts. But the lady “Amy” who emailed me had a profile and a photo on the site.

When I typed her into the image search, her face popped up in the photo library of AI-generated faces. And it was clear.

There are better options how to create a face online without being traceable, by the way.

There were also no references to the “company” on the internet. After five days the website is no longer running. Their webhosting company cancelled their account.

But it was a cunning plan. According to the photo bank, the image has been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Finding addresses where it’s being used and sending a threatening message isn’t difficult or expensive.

And since they didn’t want money, but “just” a link, it might have worked. Currently, according to Ahrefs, they have already acquired 9 referring domains this way.

In link building, you have to give people a reason to link to you. Threats and scams don’t belong here.