Fake law firm sends baseless DMCA threat over stock photo to coerce backlinks
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Fake law firm "Commonwealth Legal" sent a fake DMCA notice to a journalist over a stock image of a keyfob used in a blog post.
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The law firm's website used AI-generated fake attorney profile photos and bios with odd, mismatching credentials.
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The likely motive is to coerce the recipient into adding backlinks to the firm's site for search engine optimization.
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The owner of the site that supposedly owned the image admitted to buying backlinks but denied involvement with the DMCA notice.
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After the deadline passed, the fake law firm did not follow up on their initial threat to "activate the case."