Link Removal Services & Notices -- The Newest Internet Scam?

[MikeMpls]

Got one of these today ...

They do not originate with the named {customer} but with a company "linkaudit.co.uk", who mission in life is to badger sites into removing backlinks previously put out there by black-hat SEO outfits. Those who once paid through the nose for black-hat SEO now find that all their garbagengous backlinks are penalizing them, and to to alleviate that issue now they are paying through the nose for link-removal experts.

If you're not running a linkfarm, it should be safe just to ignore these demands, although in some cases they've been reported to escalate by filing DMCA take-down notices and abuse complaints with domain registrars.

In my case, the link is in the middle of a list of news articles. There were so many on that particular subject at that time, that instead of abstracting & linking individual articles, I provided a cursory summary and a list of relevant links.

And since the article is still there, I'm not going to remove the link.

Title: Google Penalty: urgent action requested

Hi,

I work for the company: {customer}

Our site has been penalized by Google because of a handful of back links
pointing to our site (we have lost 80% of our traffic). I have opened a
line of communication with their WebSpam team and am working to clear the
penalty.


HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU?

We have isolated the back links causing our penalty which we need to have
removed, ONE is from your site and I need to get that link taken down asap.


Heres the thing...

In order to get out of the penalty they have asked me to submit to them all
the paid or unnatural links which are currently pointing to our site and in
the next 5 days I will be submitting to them this list and unfortunately
your site is included.

HOW TO AVOID NEGATIVE ACTION FROM GOOGLE

If you can take the links down to: {customer} then of course I
will be able to leave your site off that list.


I really don't want to be the cause of a penalty to you, nor report anyone
else's website to Google hence I'm
reaching out to you now, and if you can
get that link taken down ASAP then of course I won't include your site when
I report back to them!


Where Exactly Are These Links Which Need Removing?

Specifically the links on the following page which link back to us are
located here:{a page in one of my XF forums where I listed a bunch of news articles}

I really hope you understand the position we find ourselves in, we truly
appreciate your assistance in the past for including the link to us and
would really appreciate it now if you can take the link down!

If you want to chat this through please get in touch.

Kindest Regards
James
http://{customer}
support@{customer}

 

[RandallC]

Thanks for the heads up but I have not got this but its interesting none the less.

 

[MikeMpls]

Another love letter from the bozo at linkaudit.co.uk ... I'm just quaking in my boots.

Hi,


I work for the company: UKNETGUIDE.CO.UK

Our site has been penalized by Google because of a handful of back links
pointing to our site (we have lost 80% of our traffic). I have opened a
line of communication with their WebSpam team and am working to clear the
penalty.


HOW THIS AFFECTS YOU?

We have isolated the back links causing our penalty which we need to have
removed, ONE is from your site and I need to get that link taken down asap.


Heres the thing...

In order to get out of the penalty they have asked me to submit to them all
the paid or unnatural links which are currently pointing to our site and in
the next 5 days I will be submitting to them this list and unfortunately
your site is included.


HOW TO AVOID NEGATIVE ACTION FROM GOOGLE

If you can take the links down to: WWW.UKNETGUIDE.CO.UK then of course I
will be able to leave your site off that list.


I really don't want to be the cause of a penalty to you, nor report anyone
else's website to Google hence I'm
reaching out to you now, and if you can
get that link taken down ASAP then of course I won't include your site when
I report back to them!


Where Exactly Are These Links Which Need Removing?

Specifically the links on the following page which link back to us are
located here:
[link deleted]


I really hope you understand the position we find ourselves in, we truly
appreciate your assistance in the past for including the link to us and
would really appreciate it now if you can take the link down!


If you want to chat this through please get in touch.

Kindest Regards
James
http://{customer}
support@{customer}

 

[SchmitzIT]

I had two companies contact me for removal of their links. Initially I dismissed it as an attempt to verify my mail address was working, but I decided to write back.

I basically asked if they had an explanation as to why some random Joe would end up dumping their link on an unrelated forum, and that I'd be happy to go hunting through my database if I'd get compensated for my time.

The guy, much to my surprise, mailed back and admitted they used some shoddy SEO Company, that now was unreachable, and that they're trying to control the damage. But yeah, there ought to be some kind of way to stab spammers in the face over the Internet.

 

[MikeMpls]

Just got another dire thread from "James" at "linkaudit.co.uk"

No point in pasting in a 3rd copy of the same nonsense ...