US shuts down a string of North Korean IT worker scams

The US Department of Justice has announced a major disruption of multiple North Korean fake IT worker scams.

The feds say that they uncovered [PDF] the North Korean IT staff working at over 100 US companies using fictitious or stolen identities and not only drawing salaries, but also stealing secret data for delivery to Pyongyang's servers. They were also on the lookout for virtual currency. In one case, a fake worker is accused of stealing around $740,000 in digicash from their US employer.

Government sources familiar with the matter say that deepfakes were not used to disguise identities in this case, although they are becoming more common in other cases.

The North Korean government has long engaged in online crime to fund its economy in the face of international sanctions over its nuclear ambitions. But back in 2022, the FBI warned of a switch in tactics by the ...