If the "www" is missing from a URL is it necessarily an attempt at phishing ?

[B0b-A]

If the "www" is missing from a URL is it necessarily an attempt at phishing ? ,

e.g. instead of https://www.physicsforums.com , what is shown is https://www.physicsforums.com

[ that was just an example, my question does not relate to physicsforums URLs ].

Supplementary question : does capitalisation make a difference,

e.g. can https://PhysicsForums.com take you to a place other than https://www.physicsforums.com

[ i.e. are URLs case-sensitive ]

 

[Borg]

If the "www" is missing from a URL is it necessarily an attempt at phishing ?

No, the version without www will get you to the same place. Phishing sites will usually hide their address or buy a domain that's close like physicforum.com.

e.g. instead of https://www.physicsforums.com , what is shown is https://www.physicsforums.com

[ that was just an example, my question does not relate to physicsforums URLs ].

Supplementary question : does capitalisation make a difference,

e.g. can https://PhysicsForums.com take you to a place other than https://www.physicsforums.com

[ i.e. are URLs case-sensitive ]

URLs are not case-sensitive.

 

[Borg]

Here's what to look for in a phishing scam:

How Phishing Works

 

[Doug Huffman]

About the WWW, no, not all front servers are named WWW. Let your search engine or DNS server show you the options - mail, ftp, irc et cetera.

 

[DaveC426913]

Concur.

www is a convention, but by no means consistent or necessary.
Even banking sites that live and die by security have different prefixes or no prefixes at all. eg.my Royal Bank site is www1.royalbank.ca