Is popsci.com legit or a scam?

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

• Is popsci.com legit and safe?
  Our automated security review found no threat indicators on popsci.com, so it appears legitimate. All 92 antivirus engines we queried report it clean, it ranks among the world's most-visited sites, and the domain is 30.9 years old, registered on August 21, 1995 — established domains are far less likely to be scams. Even so, always double-check the exact address in your browser, because phishing emails routinely spoof real, trusted domains like this one.
• Is popsci.com safe to use?
  popsci.com passed our automated checks with a trust score of 95/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged it at the time of the last scan, and its signals line up with an established, legitimate site. Treat any unexpected login prompt or payment request on it with the same caution you would anywhere.
• Could a legitimate site like popsci.com still be used in a scam?
  Yes — and this is worth understanding. Even trustworthy domains get spoofed in phishing emails (a fake message that only looks like it's from popsci.com), and legitimate sites are occasionally compromised on specific pages. A clean verdict means the site itself checks out today; it does not mean every email or link claiming to be from popsci.com is genuine. Always reach the site by typing the address yourself rather than clicking links in unexpected messages.
• Has popsci.com been flagged by antivirus engines?
  No — all 92 antivirus and blocklist engines in our malware network currently report popsci.com as clean. That's a good sign, though antivirus coverage is only one of the many signals we weigh, and brand-new scam sites can appear clean before vendors catch up.
• Is popsci.com on any phishing or malware blacklists?
  No — popsci.com is not currently on the major browser blocklist feeds that Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge rely on. Note that blocklists can lag behind brand-new scam domains, so "not listed" is reassuring but not a guarantee on its own.
• How old is the popsci.com domain?
  popsci.com is 30.9 years old, registered on August 21, 1995 through CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.. A multi-year registration history is one of the stronger signals against a scam, though it's never a guarantee on its own — established domains can still be misused.
• Does popsci.com have a valid SSL certificate?
  Yes — popsci.com presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · YE2, valid for another 51 days. Important caveat: SSL only encrypts the connection between you and the site — it does not verify who runs it. Almost all scam sites now have valid SSL too, so a padlock alone never means "safe".
• Where is popsci.com hosted?
  popsci.com resolves to an IP operated by Automattic, Inc in US (Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad — but hosting that doesn't match a brand's claimed country, or that sits on networks known for abuse, is one of the many signals we weigh alongside the verdict above.
• Is popsci.com a well-known website?
  Yes — popsci.com ranks in the global top 100,000 most-visited sites, which means it has substantial real-world traffic. Genuine popularity doesn't automatically make a site safe, but throwaway scam domains almost never reach this level of traffic, so it's a meaningful point in the site's favour.
• How often is the popsci.com report updated?
  This report is a record of the scan run on July 12, 2026, and the verdict reflects that point in time. Scam sites change fast — they can go live, get flagged, or vanish within days — so if you believe something about popsci.com has changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan that re-checks every signal from scratch and republishes an updated verdict.