We all have those bills we don’t pay very close attention to. We just glance at it, stick the check in, and send it back. Don’t be too hasty, there are some notable instances of companies unethically getting your money based on the assumption you’re just going through the motions.

Domain name scams are a good example of this. They’ve been around for a while and are widespread. The original scam targeted over 25,000 companies, prompting the FTC to issue a statement in 2001 naming internet companies trying to swindle money from unsuspecting owners of domain names.

It’s easy to forget the name of the company who registers your domain name, especially since you probably pay for registration once a year, or once every five years.  You might not realize that your contact information and registration expiration date are online and viewable by the public, so this information is easy for scammers to get.

Here’s how the scam works. You get a snail mail bill or email notice warning you that your registration is almost expired and you’re in danger of losing your URL. The notice will look an awful lot like an invoice, inducing you to send money before your URL expires. Well, that’s fine if it’s the actual company where you originally registered your website. However, fine print or obscure wording could be hiding the fact that this isn’t a bill for simple re-registration, but a bill for transferring your domain name to a new registry, and the quoted price for renewal will be 10 times the actual cost.

In the past two years, companies by the name of Liberty Names of America, Domain Renewal Group and Domain Registry of America have been known to send these shady, scammy invoices. Their names sound so normal and legitimate, which is exactly the intent.

A newer domain name scam is coming out of China. In this scam you’ll receive an email notifying you that some impressive sounding international company is trying to register your domain name, or your domain with a new extension, in China. The good soul notifying you of this threat will be happy to let you register your domain with them before the perceived evil empire steals it from you; for a small fee of course.

OK, now for my personal favorite. You get an invoice-ish looking notice –again saying your domain registration is about to expire. In order to not lose your domain, cough up the cash. It sounds just like the first scam, but in this cleverly written invoice, you are actually getting charged for inclusion on an Internet Directory of some sort. Wow. That’s desperate.

The latest internet scams can be found at the FBI/IC3 coordinated site. For solid advice on how to protect yourself from internet fraud, read the FBI’s guidelines, and trust your gut. If the notice you receive is poorly written, makes you feel pressured by a deadline, or offers something too good to be true, check it out before you send money.