Security Review

Is cms.gov legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 97/100

Official U.S. federal government website for Medicare and Medicaid, registered since 2001 with a perfect security reputation.

cms.govScanned 5h ago
0
Trust score
SAFE
Heuristics 100·MT 95
View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
25 years old
Registered Jun 20, 2001
MT Intelligence
Safe
Low likelihood · 100% confidence
SAFE

No threats detected

All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.

Website Preview

Screenshot of cms.gov
LIVE RENDER
cms.gov

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site.

MT Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence
MT Security Analyst
Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust95/100
MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection
0%
Confidence
The domain is a verified .gov address, which is strictly reserved for U.S. government entities. Our analysis shows it has been active for over 24 years and is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services. All security signals are positive, including valid SSL encryption and a clean record across our antivirus network. While the agency frequently warns about third-party scammers impersonating them via fax or email, the website itself is the authoritative and secure source for these federal programs.
Full dossier
Analysis complete

Page Content

The site serves as the primary portal for federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. It contains extensive documentation on provider enrollment, billing codes, and policy regulations.

Infrastructure

The technical setup is robust, utilizing a high-reputation hosting environment with zero abuse reports. The site uses a valid GeoTrust TLS certificate to ensure all user data is encrypted during transmission.

Domain History

Registered in June 2001, the domain has a long-standing history of legitimate operation. It is managed by the official .gov registrar, which requires strict identity verification for all registrants.

Web Reputation

The site maintains a perfect reputation across all major security engines and browser blocklists. It is widely cited by other official government resources like USA.gov as the trusted source for healthcare administration.
Risk Factors
1
  • None identified for the domain itself; however, users should be aware of external scammers who impersonate this agency.
Positive Signals
5
  • Official .gov domain restricted to U.S. government agencies.
  • Domain has been active and verified for over 24 years.
  • Zero detections across 92 antivirus engines in our network.
  • Valid SSL encryption issued by a trusted authority.
  • Recognized as a legitimate resource by USA.gov and other federal entities.
AI Recommendation
You can safely use this website for official government business. Always ensure you are on the .gov domain before entering personal or healthcare information.
Next-gen fraud intelligence
Evidence-backedCross-checked

Web Research Findings

Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for cms.gov, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Domain age
25 yrs
Registered Jun 2001
Business registration
Active · United States
Site traces back to an actively registered business.
Clone check
Not a clone
No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.
Typosquat check
No look-alike match
The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.
Web mentions
2 scam reports · 3 positive
Key findings
7 headline facts from open-web research
  • cms.gov is the official website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a U.S. federal agency within HHS that administers Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and related programs.
  • Domain registered on 2001-06-20 (over 24 years old), expires 2026-09-15; managed as a .gov domain by the U.S. government.
  • CMS actively publishes alerts about scams impersonating the agency (e.g., phishing faxes claiming to be Medicare audits) and runs fraud prevention initiatives like "Crushing Fraud, Waste, & Abuse".
  • A 2025 data incident involved bad actors fraudulently creating Medicare.gov accounts using stolen beneficiary data from external sources; CMS notified affected individuals and deactivated accounts.
  • Multiple independent sources (USA.gov, GoHealth, Reddit users) confirm cms.gov as the legitimate official government site; occasional user confusion with emails from related CMS systems.
  • Address: 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244; official X account @CMSGov; no consumer scam reports or negative reviews found on major platforms.
  • Site includes extensive resources on provider enrollment, coverage, data, and fraud reporting (e.g., 1-800-MEDICARE).
Scam reports (2)
Direct quotes from public scam databases, forums, and news.
  • Reddit (r/Scams)open

    "Has anyone received this email? Seems like a scam but if lookup @cms.gov goes to a Medicare enrollment page."

  • CMS.govopen

    "CMS has identified a fraud scheme targeting Medicare providers and suppliers. Scammers are impersonating CMS and sending phishing fax requests for medical records"

Positive reviews (3)
Quotes indicating the site is legitimate.
  • USA.govopen

    "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides health coverage to more than 100 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health"

  • GoHealthopen

    "CMS.gov is the official government website for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It gives you up-to-date information about Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and other CMS initiatives."

  • eHealth Insuranceopen

    "A “.gov” web address indicates the web presence of a government entity. CMS.gov is the official website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid"

Business registration
Status: active · United States

U.S. federal government agency (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); official .gov domain registered since 2001

Research summary
Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above
Research confirms cms.gov is the official U.S. government website for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Independent sources like USA.gov and various healthcare aggregators verify its legitimacy. While our research found alerts regarding phishing schemes where attackers impersonate CMS officials, these reports emphasize that the official .gov site is the safe place to verify information.

Antivirus Engines

Clean pass · verified
Clean across 92 engines

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 92 malware and blacklist engines. None of them flagged this URL in the last scan.

0Malicious0Suspicious61Harmless92Engines
Clean
Kaspersky
Clean
Bitdefender
Clean
Microsoft
Not in pass
ESET-NOD32
Not in pass
Avira
Not in pass
Sophos
Clean
Fortinet
Clean
Google Safebrowsing
Clean
Emsisoft
Clean

No engine detections. The URL passed every antivirus and blacklist engine we queried in this scan. Stay vigilant — AV coverage is only one signal among many.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check
Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Contact Verification

We fetched the page and looked for real-world contact details. Legitimate businesses almost always publish an email on their own domain, a phone number, and a postal address. Scam shops usually don't.

What We Found
No clear contact details on the page
Emails on site's domainNone
Phone numbersNone
Postal addressPresent
Linked social profiles5
Signal Summary
Contact details look reasonable
  • No contact email found anywhere on the page.
  • No phone number listed on the page.
  • Postal address visible on the page.
  • Links to 5 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Domain History
Age25 years old
Registrarget.gov
RegisteredJun 20, 2001
ExpiresSep 15, 2026
Owner privacyHidden
Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.3
IssuerDigiCert Inc · GeoTrust TLS RSA CA G1
ExpiresDec 14, 2026 (165d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingAkamai Technologies, Inc.
Server locationUS
Platform / CMSDrupal
PopularityTop 100k worldwide

Redirect Chain

Hops
2
Cross-domain
Yes
Lookalike
No
Punycode
No
  • 1301http://cms.gov/
  • 2301https://cms.gov/
  • 3200https://www.cms.gov/cross-domain

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file0
ISPAkamai Technologies, Inc.
Usage typeData Center/Web Hosting/Transit

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

  • Double-check the exact URL in your address bar

    Confirm you are actually on cms.gov and not a lookalike like c-ms.gov.com or an IDN homoglyph.

  • Use a password manager

    Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.

  • Discuss this site on the forum

    If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.

    Open

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing
Not listedCheck ↗
VirusTotal
Not listedCheck ↗
AbuseIPDB
Not listedCheck ↗

Referenced Domains

Outbound domains this page links to or loads resources from. Each links to its own security scan.

Safety FAQ

Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.

  • Our automated security review found no threat indicators on cms.gov. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
  • cms.gov passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 97/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
  • Yes. cms.gov presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by DigiCert Inc · GeoTrust TLS RSA CA G1, expiring in 165 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
  • cms.gov is 25.0 years old, registered on 6/20/2001 through get.gov. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
  • No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report cms.gov as clean.
  • No. cms.gov is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
  • cms.gov resolves to an IP operated by Akamai Technologies, Inc. in US (usage type: Data Center/Web Hosting/Transit). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
  • Yes. cms.gov sits in the global top-100k on Cloudflare Radar, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. That does not automatically make it safe, but established brands almost always rank here and throwaway scam domains almost never do.

Final Verdict

0
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·cms.gov
SAFE

This is the official U.S. government website for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It is a legitimate federal resource and is safe to use for healthcare information and program management.

You can safely use this website for official government business. Always ensure you are on the .gov domain before entering personal or healthcare information.

AV engines
92
MT passes
2
Net signals
0
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This report is generated automatically by combining threat intelligence, domain signals, and an AI security analyst. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.