The reason you don't see it much is that it's not that good of a line for White. In online/correspondence surprise doesn't matter, in serious OTB any Petroff player will have at least looked at it. It might play for Blitz since it seems to have a lot of tactical tricks but...
Anti-Petroff
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Here is an obscure line in the Petroff Opening. As far as I know, there are no topics covering this variation. This is known as the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit. It is rarely seen today yet it is a very complicated line so the better prepared player will likely win. I have used the line to much success.