AI law firm scam targets sites for backlinks
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Fake law firms are reportedly using artificial intelligence to create false legal personas and send copyright infringement notices to website owners.
Ernie Smith, writer of the newsletter Tedium, recently received a DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice from Commonwealth Legal, claiming to represent Tech4Gods over a stock photo used on Smith’s site.
The notice threatened legal action if Smith didn’t add a credit link to Tech4Gods within five days.
However, upon investigation, Smith discovered that Commonwealth Legal was a facade, with AI-generated images of ‘lawyers’ who don’t exist in real life. The firm’s website, filled with stock photos and generic content, failed to hold up under scrutiny.
Further digging also revealed that the firm’s listed address corresponded to a one-story building, contradicting the four-story office claimed on their site.
Media company 404 Media and its cofounder Jason Koebler also attempted to contact the firm using the provided phone numbers and a contact form, which went unanswered.
“All of the faces scanned were likely AI-generated, most likely by a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model,” said Ali Shahriyari, co-founder and CTO of Reality Defender.
The real motive behind this elaborate ruse isn’t copyright enforcement but a backlink SEO (Search Engine Optimization) scam.
According to a 404 Media report, the target, Tech4Gods.com, is a gadget review website run by Daniel Barczak, who admitted to purchasing backlinks for SEO purposes but denied any involvement in the scam.
The photo at the center of the dispute was sourced from Unsplash, a royalty-free image platform, and had no connection to Barczak.
This scam represents a concerning evolution in SEO manipulation tactics. It leverages the threat of legal action to secure backlinks, exploiting the fear of legal repercussions and undermining the integrity of search engine rankings.
As this tactic gains traction, it serves as a reminder for website owners to remain vigilant and scrutinize the legitimacy of any legal threats they receive.
