Verdict
modelsint.co.za shows high-risk / scam indicators.
This assessment found strong scam indicators. Do not pay, sign in, or share personal details with this site.
| What this site appears to be | A plain web server directory index (Index of /) showing file/folder names and metadata. No forms, no social links, and no monetization or credential prompts detected. |
|---|
Evidence status and limitations
Evidence completeness: UNKNOWN
- The real-world operator identity was not independently verified.
- Module-level completeness metadata is unavailable for this legacy report.
At a glance
The checks that decide most of this verdict.
| Malware engines | 16 flagged itVirusTotal | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Google Safe Browsing | Not listedGoogle | Clear |
| Abuse reports on the host | 0 reportsAbuseIPDB; shared hosting inflates this count | Noted |
| Domain age | 13 years oldRegistered history | Clear |
| Web archive | Archived since 2018Public history exists | Clear |
| Certificate | Encrypted connectionIssued by YR1 | Noted |
The page as captured
Key findings
- Automated classification: Sensitive Interaction Risk.
- Domain age: more than 10 years (registration continuity).
- Public web-archive history exists since 2018.
- At least one reputation service TrustSniffer consulted had flagged this domain at assessment time.
Full analysis
Security Alert
Fortinet, Sophos flagged this site in external intelligence checks, indicating elevated compromise/scam exposure that requires immediate caution.
The website at modelsint.co.za currently presents a bare web-server directory index titled “Index of /,” showing file and folder names with metadata rather than a defined corporate, financial, or commercial service. Its apparent function is informational or administrative hosting, and the visitor is not presented with a normal homepage, business proposition, account workflow, or payment request.
Scam/Impersonation Risk
The site presents a critical sensitive-interaction risk because external threat intelligence identifies the domain as malicious and blacklisted, including detections associated with Fortinet and Sophos. This conflicts materially with the otherwise passive appearance of the directory page: no phishing form, credential prompt, monetization flow, or brand impersonation was observed during page inspection, but the absence of active content does not offset the confirmed external reputation signals. No distinct legal-entity identity contradiction or observed impersonation flow was reported; the principal concern is the confirmed malicious and blacklist status.
- The homepage is a plain “Index of /” directory listing with no forms, login fields, credential prompts, or payment mechanisms.
- External scanning recorded 16 malicious detections, with Fortinet and Sophos among the flagged vendors; the domain is also listed by external blacklist sources.
- The domain was registered on 2014-02-20 and is approximately 12.5 years old.
- Archive records were first seen on 2018-08-13 and last seen on 2025-02-28, with 8 years tracked.
Regulatory Verification Notes
The available page does not identify an operating business, provide terms or legal notices, or disclose a license, registration number, or regulated activity. The registration record names Models International and uses Register Domain SA, but the available evidence does not independently verify that this registrant operates the website. Accordingly, the site’s identity remains unverified and any regulatory status is unresolved; the missing disclosures are transparency gaps rather than, by themselves, proof of fraud. No matching broker-reputation record was identified in the supplied third-party context.
- The homepage contains only directory-index text and does not present corporate, licensing, or regulatory disclosures.
- Registration records identify Register Domain SA as registrar and Models International as the organization.
- The site uses a DV TLS certificate issued by YR1, valid until 2026-11-09.
- The site is hosted by Host Africa (Pty) Ltd in South Africa on AS329184.
What to Verify Next
Before any sensitive interaction, an independent authority should confirm the operator associated with Models International and determine whether any organization using the domain is authorized for the activity it intends to conduct. Any linked files or subdirectories should be inspected in an isolated environment, and the domain’s current blacklist status should be checked through independent security channels before the site is permitted into an enterprise workflow.
- The available identity connection is unverified, so the registration record should not be treated as proof of operational control.
- The page presents a directory listing rather than a declared business or service, leaving the purpose of any hosted files undetermined.
- The transport certificate is domain-validated only and therefore does not establish the legal identity of the operator.
Summary Verdict
The overall posture is critical and unsuitable for sensitive interaction. The site may be viewable as a passive directory, but the convergence of confirmed external malicious detections and blacklist placement outweighs its technically stable presentation.
Infrastructure Integrity
The domain resolves directly to a single likely origin address rather than through a detected CDN or WAF layer. The confirmed hosting infrastructure is Host Africa (Pty) Ltd, AS329184, in South Africa; this provides an identifiable hosting path but offers no legitimacy assurance and does not mitigate the external reputation risk.
Closing Assessment
Enterprise controls should restrict sensitive interaction with the domain and permit only tightly controlled, read-only examination where operationally necessary.
Written analysis generated 2026-08-19 by the TrustSniffer Analysis Engine from the evidence in this report.
What the analysis found
1 finding contributed to this verdict, raised by analysis engine, external reputation.
01 Sensitive Interaction Risk
- The analysis matched a pattern TrustSniffer treats as a direct threat to a visitor.Analysis engine
signal:direct_threat - An external threat feed lists this domain: either Google Safe Browsing marked it malicious, or a significant number of malware engines flagged it.External reputation
rule:EXT_BLACKLIST_CRITICAL
Identity verification
| Status | UNVERIFIED |
|---|---|
| Identity score | 30/100 |
| Identity verification confidence | 50% |
- No on-site identity signals detected
Identity verification measures whether the site can be independently connected to a real-world brand or person. It is separate from the classification confidence.
What TrustSniffer observed
First-party facts recorded during the assessment of modelsint.co.za.
- The request stayed on modelsint.co.za. It was not redirected to another domain. Clear
- Registration is published under Register Domain SA. Clear
- DNS for this domain is served by co.za, across 2 name servers. Noted
- The registration is paid up to 2027-02-20. Noted
- The earliest public archive of this site is from 2018-08-13. Clear
- It is hosted on Host Africa (Pty) Ltd, from a server in ZA. Noted
Domain intelligence
| Registrar | Register Domain SA |
|---|---|
| Hosting | Host Africa (Pty) Ltd - Host Africa (Pty) Ltd, ZA |
| Country | ZA |
| Server IP | 102.209.116.110 |
| Name servers | ns1.simplicityhost.co.za, ns2.simplicityhost.co.za |
| SSL issuer | YR1 |
| SSL expiry | 2026-11-09 |
| Domain age | 12.50 years (continuous registration) |
| Domain expiry | 2027-02-20 |
| Archive first seen | 2018-08-13 |
| Archive snapshots | Not counted (archive lookup incomplete) |
| Reputation | VirusTotal: 16 flagged | AbuseIPDB: 0 reports | Google Safe Browsing: 0 matches |
About this assessment
A trust score summarises the evidence TrustSniffer could collect about modelsint.co.za at assessment time. It is a starting point for your own judgement, not a guarantee: a high score means the signals were consistent with a legitimately operated site, a low or critical score means several risk patterns were present.
TrustSniffer assesses a website from the evidence it can collect at a point in time: domain registration and age, hosting and certificate, the content the site served, and third-party reputation feeds. A score is a summary of that evidence, not a guarantee and not a legal finding. There is no human rating and no user review in it. A site can change after it is assessed.