Is notepadplusplus.site legit or a scam?
Malware-distribution clone of Notepad++ that delivered info-stealer malware via fake download ads in 2023.
These checks passed — but they don't clear the site. A clean antivirus result, valid SSL, and a calm server only mean it isn't hosting malware; they say nothing about whether the business is real. This verdict is based on the site's conduct and content, not a malware detection.
Analysis Summary
Brand impersonation — not the real site
8 of 92 antivirus engines flag this page as malicious. This page is styled as a brand but is not the brand's real site. Go to the official site directly, and treat any download, login, or payment request here as unsafe.
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site.
MT Intelligence
Our antivirus network flags this domain as malicious across six independent engines, including CyRadar and Forcepoint ThreatSeeker. The evidence package confirms this is a typosquat clone of the official notepad-plus-plus.org, registered January 4, 2023, and documented by Darktrace as part of a malvertising campaign distributing Vidar info-stealer malware. The domain appears in multiple malware IOC databases (ThreatFox, gmalvertising blocklists) and the Notepad++ community forum explicitly warns users against it. The page currently returns no content, consistent with takedown or blocking. No legitimate business registration, contact information, or positive reviews exist — only malware distribution history.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for notepadplusplus.site, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- Official Notepad++ website and downloads are at notepad-plus-plus.org and github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
- notepadplusplus.site was registered January 4, 2023 and used in Google malvertising campaigns to deliver Vidar info-stealer malware
- Site appeared in search ads for "Notepad++" and led to malicious downloads that installed infostealer (Darktrace report, 2023)
- Listed in multiple malware IOC databases including ThreatFox and gmalvertising blocklists
- Notepad++ developers and community repeatedly warn against third-party/fake download sites due to malware and ad risks
- Page browse returned no content (possibly taken down or blocked); historical evidence shows it posed as a Notepad++ beginner guide/download portal
- No legitimate business registration, reviews, or positive mentions found; domain has no affiliation with Don Ho or the official project
- Darktraceopen
"Clicking on the advertisement would direct potential victims to the website notepadplusplus.site, which had been registered on the 4th of January and is hosted on IP address 37.140.192.11. ... the malware in question is the info-stealer kno"
- ThreatFoxopen
"This IOC is an old IOC ... for domain notepadplusplus.site"
- GitHub (gmalvertising)open
"notepadplusplus.site notepad-plus-plus.space notepad-pp.shop ..."
- Notepad++ Community Forumopen
"Only install Notepad++ from official sources. Even if you were lucky enough to not get a virus or malware, the Notepad++ developers do not support copies of Notepad++ downloaded from anyplace that’s not on the official ... notepad-plus-plus"
Domain name closely mimics the official Notepad++ project; used in malvertising to distribute fake downloads
Darktrace security research confirms this domain was registered January 4, 2023, and used in Google ad campaigns to distribute Vidar info-stealer malware to users searching for Notepad++. The domain is listed in ThreatFox and gmalvertising malware IOC databases. The official Notepad++ community forum and developers warn against downloading from third-party or fake sites, explicitly citing malware and ad risks. No legitimate business registration, positive reviews, or affiliation with the official Notepad++ project (notepad-plus-plus.org) exists.
Scam Network Intelligence
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
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.
- No contact email found anywhere on the page.
- No phone number listed on the page.
- No postal address visible on the page.
Domain & Encryption
Server Reputation
Scam-Type Likelihood
1 scam-type patterns detected
1 of 13 categories showed signals
We check every URL against 13 distinct scam categories so the verdict tells you not just how risky the page is, but what kind of risk it carries. Each meter pulls from page signals, web reports, our AI analyst, vision, and the scam-network cluster — not from raw AV labels.
- Domain is a typosquat of notepad-plus-plus.org.
- AI analyst tagged this as a brand / clone-site impersonation.
- Clustered with known brand-impersonation infrastructure.
1 of 13 categories showed signals
We check every URL against 13 distinct scam categories so the verdict tells you not just how risky the page is, but what kind of risk it carries. Each meter pulls from page signals, web reports, our AI analyst, vision, and the scam-network cluster — not from raw AV labels.
- Domain is a typosquat of notepad-plus-plus.org.
- AI analyst tagged this as a brand / clone-site impersonation.
- Clustered with known brand-impersonation infrastructure.
Brand impersonation detected
This page is styled as a known brand but is not the brand's real site.
- Do not interact with notepadplusplus.site
Do not enter credentials, deposit money, download files, or install browser extensions from this site.
- Go to the brand's real site directly
Type the brand name into a search engine or open it from your bookmarks — don't use links from emails, SMS, ads, or social posts, which are the delivery vectors for impersonation.
- Never download or sign in here
Even if the page "just" offers a download or a giveaway, impersonation pages frequently deliver malware or set up follow-up phishing. Assume anything accepted from this site is hostile.
- OpenReport the impersonation to the brand
Most major brands have a dedicated abuse or anti-phishing reporting channel — reporting helps them take the site down and protects other users.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
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 flags notepadplusplus.site as dangerous. Multiple threat indicators were detected — treat the site as a scam until proven otherwise.
- No — notepadplusplus.site scored 6/100 on our trust scale. We detected active threat indicators, so we recommend avoiding the site entirely.
- Yes. notepadplusplus.site presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · E8, expiring in 35 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- 9 out of 92 antivirus engines in our malware network flagged notepadplusplus.site as malicious or suspicious (8 outright malicious). Even one detection is a meaningful signal.
- No. notepadplusplus.site is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- notepadplusplus.site resolves to an IP operated by Cloudflare, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). 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.
- This is a permanent record of the scan run on June 18, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around notepadplusplus.site have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.
User reviews & comments(0)
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