This isn't a new SEO hack. It's pretty old. Basically you find expired or dead links, then reach out to the host site and ask them to change their link to yours. It's one of those smart SEO hacks that everybody knows but few people do, because it requires a great time of research and outreach and most of the time your emails are going to be ignored.
BUT: I just saw a site I want that's a competitor for one I own. It's valuable, but the auction is already too high and I don't need a duplicate site. However, it's valuable because of all the great backlinks. That means, it's probably going to be bought for someone and used for crappy spam and then become worthless.
SO - all I need to do is find the best backlinks to their content and recreate those posts. Then when the site goes dead, which it will I'll just ask them to link to mine instead. It's the same strategy with a twist: I can point to the current auction, tell the original content sites that they should switch links *before* the site gets spammy, and then offer some proof that I'm a legitimate, trustworthy business. Maybe I'll feature them first on my site and say nice things about them, and already give them a backlink. Maybe I'll ask them to share my amazing, free content (because that's easier than asking them to support something paid).
I only really need to do it for 5 or so of the very best links, so I'm not overwhelmed. And this way, instead of buying the whole site for $5000 at auction for a handful of juicy backlinks, I can basically "steal" those backlinks for free away from the new site buyer who just spent way too much. Devious I know, but a few years ago I was the one paying way too much for a site with nice backlinks that all disappeared after I bought it...
