Legal.com and the Suspicious Website Acquisition Offer That Wasn't What It Seemed
Thursday, 30th January 2025
Recently, I was approached by someone claiming to be a legal advisor representing a client interested in acquiring my website. At first, this seemed like a legitimate inquiry. Website acquisitions do happen, and businesses are always looking to expand their digital presence. However, as the conversation progressed, the entire thing started to unravel, revealing what appeared to be a deceptive attempt to disguise a paid link or guest post scheme as a high-level business deal.
It all started with an email from Andrew, supposedly representing Legal.com. His message was professional, well-written, and seemingly legitimate:
Hi there,
I hope this message finds you well. My name is Andrew, and I am reaching out on behalf of my client.
They are actively exploring strategic opportunities to acquire additional domains to enhance their digital presence.
Your website has captured their interest, and they would like to explore the possibility of its acquisition.
If this is something you'd be open to discussing, please let me know a time that works for you, and I will gladly arrange a call to provide more details.
Thank you for considering this opportunity. I look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Andrew
At this stage, there was nothing overtly suspicious. The email was polite, professional, and didn't raise any immediate red flags. He said they were actively exploring strategic opportunities to acquire additional domains to enhance their digital presence and that my website had captured their interest. He wanted to arrange a call to discuss the possibility of its acquisition.
Before accepting the call, I decided to investigate Legal.com, the company Andrew claimed to represent. At first glance, the website appeared to be a legal directory, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that something was off. The site was nearly empty, with only a handful of listings, all located in Florida, despite its supposed global reach. There were no team members listed, which is unusual for a business in the legal sector. The social media accounts were inactive, with just a couple of followers and no engagement at all. A quick Google search revealed the company itself was registered in the UK, yet its website was exclusively focused on the US.
It was all a bit off, but the curious nature of it all actually pushed me towards responding, just to try to find out what it was all about. So I agreed to the call, wanting to see exactly what their real agenda was.
When arranging the call, Andrew told me he was based in Central Europe in order to negotiate time differences. That seemed plausible. However, when I joined the Zoom call, I immediately noticed a British plug socket on the wall behind him. This was surprising because it contradicted what he had told me. If he had genuinely been in Central Europe, he wouldn't have had a British power socket behind him. If he was being dishonest about where he was - something completely unnecessary, it raised the question of what else he might be misrepresenting.
Once the call began, I expected him to discuss the details of the acquisition. However, after briefly touching on the topic, he quickly pivoted to an entirely different proposition. Instead of purchasing my website, he suggested a "licensing deal" where his client - who were never named - would pay me to publish content on my site either on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. This immediately set off alarm bells because this is just a dressed-up way of buying backlinks, a common SEO tactic where companies pay for content placement to manipulate search rankings.
At this point, it was obvious that the initial email had been misleading. The acquisition angle had only been a way to get me on the call. Once we were speaking, the conversation shifted entirely to a guest post scheme. His strategy was to make the offer sound more legitimate and appealing by disguising it as a long-term publishing partnership rather than what it actually was - a paid link deal that could negatively impact my website's SEO standing.
As my skepticism grew, I questioned Andrew about their supposed high-quality clients. His reaction was telling. He became noticeably uncomfortable and struggled to provide any real answers. He promised to send me examples later, but I told him there was no point in continuing the conversation until I could see evidence of the type of content and businesses they were dealing with. He attempted to reassure me by claiming that his client had no interest in damaging my site's ranking because they were looking for a long-term relationship and were investing money. However, this was an empty statement. There would be nothing stopping them from exploiting my website's SEO authority, taking whatever value they could, and moving on, leaving my site penalised by Google. His inability to counter this point only confirmed my suspicions further.
Andrew clearly wasn't just any old legal advisor. He knew about SEO tactics, the practice of buying backlinks, and the implications of Google rankings. Clearly he was deeply knowledge in SEO marketing, a specialist area of knowledge that a broker in a legal firm wouldn't normally have.
When he eventually sent over examples of their work, it was exactly what I had expected. The content was low-quality and focused on dubious industries like crypto and adult dating, the kind of material that often results in SEO penalties. This confirmed beyond doubt that Legal.com was not genuinely interested in acquiring my website. They were running an SEO link-selling operation and had deliberately used misleading tactics to disguise their real intentions.
One aspect that left me a little confused though was the domain itself. Legal.com is an extremely valuable name - a premium domain. Someone would have paid a lot to register it. So who was funding this and why? Further research revealed that it was owned by Legal.com Limited, a UK-registered company linked to Simon Levy. Levy appears to be involved with hundreds of companies, including some whose names suggest are associated with well-known figures like Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. The company names also suggest he owns or has owned other premium domains like Football.com, Express.com, Leisure.com, and European.com.
This raised an interesting question: was Legal.com actually part of an organised SEO link-selling operation, or was someone using the domain for dubious purposes without its owner's full involvement? Given that Andrew's emails came directly from the Legal.com domain, it seemed unlikely that someone was simply impersonating them. This suggested that whoever controls the site is, at the very least, aware of its use in this scheme.
Ultimately, this entire experience highlights an important lesson. Just because an email appears professional and comes from a high-value domain does not mean it is legitimate. In this case, the offer to purchase my website was nothing more than a bait-and-switch designed to make an SEO link deal seem like a high-level business arrangement. Had I not questioned Andrew's claims and asked for proof, I might have been drawn into an agreement that could have seriously harmed my site's SEO standing.
For anyone receiving similar emails, the best advice is to remain skeptical, do your research, and ask the right questions. If something feels off, it probably is.
It all started with an email from Andrew, supposedly representing Legal.com. His message was professional, well-written, and seemingly legitimate:
Hi there,
I hope this message finds you well. My name is Andrew, and I am reaching out on behalf of my client.
They are actively exploring strategic opportunities to acquire additional domains to enhance their digital presence.
Your website has captured their interest, and they would like to explore the possibility of its acquisition.
If this is something you'd be open to discussing, please let me know a time that works for you, and I will gladly arrange a call to provide more details.
Thank you for considering this opportunity. I look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Andrew
At this stage, there was nothing overtly suspicious. The email was polite, professional, and didn't raise any immediate red flags. He said they were actively exploring strategic opportunities to acquire additional domains to enhance their digital presence and that my website had captured their interest. He wanted to arrange a call to discuss the possibility of its acquisition.
Before accepting the call, I decided to investigate Legal.com, the company Andrew claimed to represent. At first glance, the website appeared to be a legal directory, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that something was off. The site was nearly empty, with only a handful of listings, all located in Florida, despite its supposed global reach. There were no team members listed, which is unusual for a business in the legal sector. The social media accounts were inactive, with just a couple of followers and no engagement at all. A quick Google search revealed the company itself was registered in the UK, yet its website was exclusively focused on the US.
It was all a bit off, but the curious nature of it all actually pushed me towards responding, just to try to find out what it was all about. So I agreed to the call, wanting to see exactly what their real agenda was.
When arranging the call, Andrew told me he was based in Central Europe in order to negotiate time differences. That seemed plausible. However, when I joined the Zoom call, I immediately noticed a British plug socket on the wall behind him. This was surprising because it contradicted what he had told me. If he had genuinely been in Central Europe, he wouldn't have had a British power socket behind him. If he was being dishonest about where he was - something completely unnecessary, it raised the question of what else he might be misrepresenting.
Once the call began, I expected him to discuss the details of the acquisition. However, after briefly touching on the topic, he quickly pivoted to an entirely different proposition. Instead of purchasing my website, he suggested a "licensing deal" where his client - who were never named - would pay me to publish content on my site either on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. This immediately set off alarm bells because this is just a dressed-up way of buying backlinks, a common SEO tactic where companies pay for content placement to manipulate search rankings.
At this point, it was obvious that the initial email had been misleading. The acquisition angle had only been a way to get me on the call. Once we were speaking, the conversation shifted entirely to a guest post scheme. His strategy was to make the offer sound more legitimate and appealing by disguising it as a long-term publishing partnership rather than what it actually was - a paid link deal that could negatively impact my website's SEO standing.
As my skepticism grew, I questioned Andrew about their supposed high-quality clients. His reaction was telling. He became noticeably uncomfortable and struggled to provide any real answers. He promised to send me examples later, but I told him there was no point in continuing the conversation until I could see evidence of the type of content and businesses they were dealing with. He attempted to reassure me by claiming that his client had no interest in damaging my site's ranking because they were looking for a long-term relationship and were investing money. However, this was an empty statement. There would be nothing stopping them from exploiting my website's SEO authority, taking whatever value they could, and moving on, leaving my site penalised by Google. His inability to counter this point only confirmed my suspicions further.
Andrew clearly wasn't just any old legal advisor. He knew about SEO tactics, the practice of buying backlinks, and the implications of Google rankings. Clearly he was deeply knowledge in SEO marketing, a specialist area of knowledge that a broker in a legal firm wouldn't normally have.
When he eventually sent over examples of their work, it was exactly what I had expected. The content was low-quality and focused on dubious industries like crypto and adult dating, the kind of material that often results in SEO penalties. This confirmed beyond doubt that Legal.com was not genuinely interested in acquiring my website. They were running an SEO link-selling operation and had deliberately used misleading tactics to disguise their real intentions.
One aspect that left me a little confused though was the domain itself. Legal.com is an extremely valuable name - a premium domain. Someone would have paid a lot to register it. So who was funding this and why? Further research revealed that it was owned by Legal.com Limited, a UK-registered company linked to Simon Levy. Levy appears to be involved with hundreds of companies, including some whose names suggest are associated with well-known figures like Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. The company names also suggest he owns or has owned other premium domains like Football.com, Express.com, Leisure.com, and European.com.
This raised an interesting question: was Legal.com actually part of an organised SEO link-selling operation, or was someone using the domain for dubious purposes without its owner's full involvement? Given that Andrew's emails came directly from the Legal.com domain, it seemed unlikely that someone was simply impersonating them. This suggested that whoever controls the site is, at the very least, aware of its use in this scheme.
Ultimately, this entire experience highlights an important lesson. Just because an email appears professional and comes from a high-value domain does not mean it is legitimate. In this case, the offer to purchase my website was nothing more than a bait-and-switch designed to make an SEO link deal seem like a high-level business arrangement. Had I not questioned Andrew's claims and asked for proof, I might have been drawn into an agreement that could have seriously harmed my site's SEO standing.
For anyone receiving similar emails, the best advice is to remain skeptical, do your research, and ask the right questions. If something feels off, it probably is.