Recently the police have become aware of an increased number of criminal offences when perpetrators from abroad (usually from Russia and Ukraine) recruit Slovenian citizens by e-mail to apply for cooperation as local representatives of a big international company.

In the messages, the international company "Les-prom" is most frequently mentioned. Slovenian nationals invited to participate usually submit to the perpetrators their personal data and their bank account numbers in Slovenia, into which they subsequently receive a monetary remittance. Following a previous agreement with the remitters, upon deduction of the 6-8% fees, the recipients in Slovenia remit the balance to the specified recipient abroad.

Please take note that the money was obtained as a result of criminal offences associated with the abuse of electronic banking passwords, and forwarding such money means complicity in the criminal offence of grand theft, punishable by up to five years' imprisonment.

For their personal safety, Internet users are warned not to respond to such messages and not to disclose their personal data to unknown persons, since in such cases transnational criminal organisations are involved.

Internet users are also advised to use electronic banking safely.

We advise users to regularly apply anti-virus software, to filter suspicious mail and to install spyware. Adequate installation and use of a personal firewall or a router with integrated firewall is crucial when connecting to the Internet. If we want to detect suspicious details indicating the initial phases of attack, we must note down and regularly control all traffic at the firewall. It is absolutely necessary to have the operating system, security software, Internet browser and other software regularly updated, taking account of service or security adjustments made by the manufacturer. It is recommended to have automatic system updates installed.