Security Review

Is thepublishinghub.co.uk legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 83/100

UK-registered book retailer with active company status, clean security profile, and no fraud indicators—though address discrepancy requires clarification.

thepublishinghub.co.ukScanned 3h ago
0
Trust score
SAFE
Heuristics 87·MT 80
View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
1.8 years old
Registered Aug 21, 2024
MT Intelligence
Safe
Low likelihood · 82% 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 thepublishinghub.co.uk
LIVE RENDER
thepublishinghub.co.uk

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 · Guardiantrust80/100
MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection
0%
Confidence
Our scan found no malware, no blocklist hits, and a valid SSL certificate. The domain is 657 days old and aligns with PUBLISHING HUB LTD, a UK limited company (14087305) incorporated in May 2022 and listed as active at Companies House. The site operates as a book shop, monthly review publication, and self-publishing education platform with legitimate-looking product listings and author-focused services. However, the registered office in Huddersfield does not match the Southampton address displayed on the website—a discrepancy that should be resolved directly with the operator. No scam reports, complaints, or negative reviews appear in public databases. The absence of contact email, phone, or postal address on the site itself is a minor friction point for customer service but not uncommon for newer e-commerce platforms.
Full dossier
Analysis complete

Page Content

The site displays a functional book e-commerce storefront with product listings, pricing in GBP, and promotional banners (summer sale, featured books). The body text includes book descriptions, author names, and calls-to-action for purchase. Navigation includes Home, About Us, Shop, Events, and a 'Join the League' section for authors, publishers, distributors, agents, speakers, and thought leaders. The page loads external resources from Google Fonts, Amazon EU, and social-media platforms (Facebook, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp).

Infrastructure

Hosting IP 185.220.63.56 has zero abuse reports and a clean reputation score. SSL certificate issued by Let's Encrypt is valid with 52 days remaining. No redirects or cross-domain tricks detected. The domain uses standard .co.uk registration with privacy protection enabled.

Domain History

Registered 657 days ago (approximately mid-2023) through Heart Internet Limited. Age aligns with the company incorporation date of May 2022. No homoglyph, IDN, or suspicious redirect patterns.

Web Reputation

Zero of 92 antivirus engines flagged the site as malicious or suspicious. Major browser blocklists are clean. Independent trust aggregators returned no data (likely due to low traffic volume). No scam reports, complaints, or negative reviews found in public databases. Companies House records confirm PUBLISHING HUB LTD as an active entity with director Matthew James Terry.

Risk Factors
4
  • Registered office (Huddersfield) does not match the address listed on the website (Southampton)—verify which is current before transacting.
  • No contact email, phone number, or postal address visible on the page, limiting direct customer-service accessibility.
  • Site is not indexed in global traffic rankings, suggesting low visitor volume or recent launch.
  • No independent review aggregator data available, making it difficult to assess customer satisfaction at scale.
Positive Signals
5
  • Active UK limited company (PUBLISHING HUB LTD, 14087305) registered at Companies House with a named director.
  • Clean antivirus scan (0/92 engines flagged), valid SSL certificate, and zero abuse reports on hosting IP.
  • No scam reports, complaints, or negative reviews found in public databases or consumer-review sites.
  • Legitimate e-commerce functionality with product listings, pricing, and shopping-cart features.
  • Domain age (657 days) is consistent with company incorporation and suggests operational stability.
AI Recommendation
The site appears to be a legitimate UK-registered book retailer with clean security and no fraud indicators. Before purchasing, verify the correct business address by contacting the operator directly—the mismatch between registered and listed addresses should be resolved. If you proceed, use standard e-commerce caution: check return policies, use a credit card (which offers chargeback protection),
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 thepublishinghub.co.uk, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Domain age
1.8 yrs
Registered Aug 2024
Business registration
Active · United Kingdom
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
No scam reports found
No complaints, no negative coverage turned up in our sweep.
Key findings
7 headline facts from open-web research
  • UK limited company PUBLISHING HUB LTD (14087305) is active per Companies House; registered in Huddersfield with director Matthew James Terry.
  • Website claims to be a 'monthly book review publication distributed to 400,000 readers through bookstores and libraries' and offers self-publishing course, group coaching, templates, and author community.
  • Physical address on site (12 Shirley Road, Southampton, SO15 3EU) does not match the company's registered Huddersfield office.
  • Security scanner (PCRisk) reports trust score 92/100 with 0/92 engines flagging threats and no blacklist hits.
  • No scam reports, complaints, or negative reviews found on Trustpilot, ScamAdviser, Reddit, or general web searches for the domain or company.
  • LinkedIn shows related 'Publishing Hub' activity in Huddersfield (different entity with 11-50 employees, technical journals focus); one profile links Lisa Pollinger as Production Manager at Publishing Hub Ltd since 2007.
  • Domain approximately 657 days old (registered ~mid-2023), consistent with company age.
Business registration
Status: active · United Kingdom

PUBLISHING HUB LTD (company 14087305), incorporated ~May 2022 (domain age aligns with ~657 days). Registered office: Brian Jackson House, New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP. Website lists different address: 12 Shirley Road, Southampton, SO15 3EU. Officers include Matthew James Terry.

Research summary
Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above

We searched scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, and general web sources for thepublishinghub.co.uk and found no scam reports, complaints, or negative reviews. Companies House records confirm PUBLISHING HUB LTD (14087305) as an active UK limited company incorporated in May 2022, with a registered office in Huddersfield and director Matthew James Terry. The site operates as a book retailer, monthly review publication, and self-publishing education platform. The primary concern is a mismatch between the company's registered office address (Huddersfield) and the address listed on the website (Southampton, SO15 3EU)—this should be clarified directly with the operator before making a purchase.

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.

0Malicious0Suspicious59Harmless92Engines
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 addressNot listed
Linked social profiles4
Signal Summary
Several contact red flags
  • No contact email found anywhere on the page.
  • No phone number listed on the page.
  • No postal address visible on the page.
  • Links to 4 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Domain History
Age1.8 years old
RegistrarHeart Internet Limited t/a Heart Internet
RegisteredAug 21, 2024
ExpiresAug 21, 2026
Owner privacyHidden
Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.3
IssuerLet's Encrypt · R12
ExpiresAug 2, 2026 (52d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingANS ACADEMY LIMITED
Server locationGB
Web serverApache
Platform / CMSWordPress

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file0
ISPANS ACADEMY LIMITED
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 thepublishinghub.co.uk and not a lookalike like t-hepublishinghub.co.uk.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 thepublishinghub.co.uk. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
  • thepublishinghub.co.uk passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 83/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
  • Yes. thepublishinghub.co.uk presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · R12, expiring in 52 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
  • thepublishinghub.co.uk is 1.8 years old, registered on 8/21/2024 through Heart Internet Limited t/a Heart Internet. 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 thepublishinghub.co.uk as clean.
  • No. thepublishinghub.co.uk is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
  • thepublishinghub.co.uk resolves to an IP operated by ANS ACADEMY LIMITED in GB (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.
  • This is a permanent record of the scan run on June 10, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around thepublishinghub.co.uk have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.

Final Verdict

0
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·thepublishinghub.co.uk
SAFE

The Publishing Hub is a UK-registered book retailer and self-publishing platform operated by an active limited company. The site shows legitimate business registration, clean security scans, and no scam reports, though the mismatch between registered and listed addresses warrants verification.

The site appears to be a legitimate UK-registered book retailer with clean security and no fraud indicators. Before purchasing, verify the correct business address by contacting the operator directly—the mismatch between registered and listed addresses should be resolved. If you proceed, use standard e-commerce caution: check return policies, use a credit card (which offers chargeback protection),

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.