BUSINESS owners in the Ballarat area are being targeted in a new internet scam, demanding payment for already-registered internet domain names. The scams involve website administrators being issued invoices or provided with offers for the registration and renewal of domain names, with correspondence made to look genuine.Consumer Affairs Victoria yesterday warned local website administrators that unsolicited offers were not always genuine, and could be an attempt to deceive the consumer into changing service providers. The Courier was shown two examples of unauthorised website registration invoices, which appeared to be genuine. A Consumer Affairs Victoria spokesperson said the scams worked in two ways. “The scammer may send you an invoice for a domain name that is very similar to your current name and hope that you pay it and don’t notice the difference. “Or you may be sent a renewal notice for your actual domain name but it is from a company different to the one you’ve previously used,” the spokesperson said. Victoria’s Department of Justice has received more than 5100 reports of scams in 2011. These complaints included about 50 reports of domain name scams, with many complaints lodged after the victim has made a payment. One consumer who complained had received an invoice from a company which was different to the one they had previously used to register their domain name. Consumer Affairs warned administrators to check the website addresses carefully in any offer of domain name registration or invoices.