SAFE

No threats detected

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

Security Review

Is usf.edu legit or a scam?

Our verdict:Safe· 95/100

Official University of South Florida site with clean security scans, valid SSL, and long-standing public-university credentials.

usf.eduScanned 1h ago
0
Trust score
SAFE
Score breakdown
Heuristics 100·MT 92
Screenshot of usf.eduSee the live page ↓
Positive signals (4)
Antivirus clearNot on major blacklistsEncrypted connectionClean server reputation
View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence
0/92
All engines report clean
Domain Age
Registration date unknown
Intelligence
Safe
Low likelihood · 95% confidence

Website Preview

Screenshot of usf.edu
LIVE RENDER
usf.edu

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

Visual analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

0
/ 100
No visual red flags

No scam visual patterns detected

The screenshot shows a professionally designed, fully-rendered official website for the University of South Florida with no visual indicators of risk or scam patterns.

Visual risk0/100

What our vision model saw

6 signals

Professional layout consistent with a major educational institution

High-quality original photography of a university campus

Functional navigation menus for academics, admissions, and campus life

Official University of South Florida branding and 70th-anniversary logo

Standard institutional call-to-action buttons like 'Apply' and 'MyUSF'

No visible urgency tactics, fake trust badges, or suspicious overlays

Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence
Analysis
Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust92/100
MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection
0%
Confidence
The domain usf.edu belongs to a public research university founded in 1956 and listed as an active member of Florida's State University System. All 92 antivirus engines returned clean results with zero flags, and the hosting IP carries an abuse score of zero. The page displays official branding, navigation menus, and contact details consistent with a legitimate educational institution. Independent sources confirm accreditation by SACSCOC and membership in the Association of American Universities. A small number of BBB complaints exist around billing and housing, typical for any large university handling student accounts. The combination of institutional history, clean technical signals, and absence of phishing or malware indicators supports a safe classification.
Full dossier
Analysis complete

Page Content

The homepage carries the official title and meta description for the University of South Florida, with navigation covering academics, admissions, campus life, and athletics. Contact information includes one university-domain email and one phone number, with no free-mail addresses or missing details. The body text references the 70th anniversary and links to official subdomains such as gousfbulls.com and usfbullsstadium.com.

Infrastructure

The site loads over valid SSL issued by InCommon RSA OV SSL CA 3 with 158 days remaining. The hosting IP 52.141.216.229 shows zero abuse reports. External resources load from standard CDNs and university-affiliated domains only. No login forms, countdown timers, or push-notification prompts appear on the page.

Domain History

The domain serves as the primary web address for a public research university established in 1956. Business registration records confirm active status as a member of the State University System of Florida. No recent registration anomalies exist.

Web Reputation

Our research found two scam-related mentions: one university-hosted phishing alert page warning about external UNICEF impersonators, and one BBB complaint about account closure. Positive coverage includes a U.S. News & World Report ranking as a top-50 public university. Fifteen total complaints appear on BBB, mostly billing disputes typical for large institutions.

What this means for you

The site matches the expected profile of an accredited public university with no technical or visual indicators of fraud. Users can safely browse for admissions, academic, or campus information.

Risk Factors
2
  • Fifteen BBB complaints exist, primarily around billing and housing fees.
  • One BBB reviewer described account closure as feeling like a scam attempt.
Positive Signals
5
  • Zero detections across 92 antivirus engines.
  • Valid institutional SSL certificate from InCommon.
  • Public research university established in 1956 with active state registration.
  • Professional layout with official branding and no urgency tactics.
  • Accredited by SACSCOC and ranked top-50 public university by U.S. News.
AI Recommendation
The site is the legitimate University of South Florida homepage. Proceed with normal browsing for official university 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 usf.edu, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Business registration
Active · USA
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 · 15 complaints · 1 positive
Key findings
5 headline facts from open-web research
  • Official domain of the University of South Florida (USF), a public research university founded in 1956.
  • The university maintains an active phishing alert page to warn students about external scammers impersonating university staff or organizations like UNICEF.
  • Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
  • Member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and ranked as a top 50 public university by U.S. News & World Report.
  • BBB profile shows several complaints regarding billing, housing fees, and account closures, which the university typically responds to as contractual disputes.
Scam reports (2)
Direct quotes from public scam databases, forums, and news.
  • usf.eduopen

    "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that fraud suspects impersonating themselves as employees of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) are using spoofed emails..."

  • bbb.orgopen

    "I never step foot on this campus and my account was closed... It feels like they are trying to scam me. They have been ignoring both mine and my mothers emails in attempt to reach anyone."

Positive reviews (1)
Quotes indicating the site is legitimate.
  • U.S. News & World Reportopen

    "In 2025, U.S. News & World Report recognized USF with its highest overall ranking in university history, as a top 50 public university for the seventh consecutive year."

Business registration
Status: active · USA

Public research university established in 1956; member of the State University System of Florida.

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

Our research located two scam-related items: a university page warning about external phishing emails impersonating UNICEF, and a single BBB complaint describing an account closure as feeling like a scam. Positive coverage includes U.S. News & World Report ranking USF as a top-50 public university. Fifteen total BBB complaints focus on billing and housing disputes common to large universities.

Threat Detection

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.

Reputation Sources

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

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

Technical Details

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
Has a contact email on its own domain
Emails on site's domainucm@usf.edu
Phone numbers813-974-2011
Postal addressPresent
Linked social profiles10
Signal Summary
Contact details look reasonable
  • Contact email on the site's own domain (ucm@usf.edu).
  • Phone number listed (813-974-2011).
  • Postal address visible on the page.
  • Links to 17 social profiles.

Domain & Encryption

Encryption Certificate
StatusValid
ProtocolTLSv1.2
IssuerInCommon, LLC · InCommon RSA OV SSL CA 3
ExpiresDec 17, 2026 (158d)
Self-signedNo
Hosting & Technology
HostingMicrosoft Corporation
Server locationUS
Web serverMicrosoft-IIS/10.0
PopularityTop 100k worldwide

Redirect Chain

Hops
1
Cross-domain
No
Lookalike
No
Punycode
No
  • 1302http://usf.edu/
  • 2200https://www.usf.edu/

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence
Confidence score0%
Reports on file0
ISPMicrosoft Corporation
Usage typeData Center/Web Hosting/Transit

Referenced Domains

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

What to do

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 usf.edu and not a lookalike like u-sf.edu.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

Final Verdict

0
Trust / 100
Final Verdict·usf.edu
SAFE

This is the official website of the University of South Florida. The domain shows clean scans across all engines, valid institutional SSL, and established public-university status since 1956.

The site is the legitimate University of South Florida homepage. Proceed with normal browsing for official university information.

AV engines
92
Domain age
Flagged
0
Scan another URL
Security review completemalwaretips.com/url-scan

Safety FAQ

Common questions, 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 usf.edu, so it appears legitimate. All 92 antivirus engines we queried report it clean, it ranks among the world's most-visited sites, Even so, always double-check the exact address in your browser, because phishing emails routinely spoof real, trusted domains like this one.
  • usf.edu 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.
  • Yes — and this is worth understanding. Even trustworthy domains get spoofed in phishing emails (a fake message that only looks like it's from usf.edu), 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 usf.edu is genuine. Always reach the site by typing the address yourself rather than clicking links in unexpected messages.
  • No — all 92 antivirus and blocklist engines in our malware network currently report usf.edu 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.
  • No — usf.edu 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.
  • Yes — usf.edu presents a valid TLSv1.2 certificate issued by InCommon, LLC · InCommon RSA OV SSL CA 3, valid for another 158 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".
  • usf.edu resolves to an IP operated by Microsoft Corporation in US (Data Center/Web Hosting/Transit). 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.
  • Yes — usf.edu 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.
  • This report is a record of the scan run on July 11, 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 usf.edu has changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan that re-checks every signal from scratch and republishes an updated verdict.
Recently scanned

Other Safe reports

Browse all reports
Community review

User reviews & comments(0)

Share your experience — "Lost $200 on a fake checkout" is more useful than "Scam". Your review helps others avoid traps.

Loading…
Loading comments…
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.