Amazon blocked 1,800 suspected North Korean scammers seeking jobs

Even Amazon isn't immune to North Korean scammers who try to score remote jobs at tech companies so they can funnel their wages to Kim Jong Un's coffers.

The cloud giant has stopped more than 1,800 suspected scammers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, aka North Korea) from joining its workforce since April 2024, Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt said Thursday.

"And we've detected 27 percent more DPRK-affiliated applications quarter over quarter this year," Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.

North Korea’s fake worker scam sees real developers use fake or stolen identities to apply for remote jobs at US and European companies. Applicants often use AI tools to help draft resumés or develop social media personas, and sometimes the scammers even use deepfakes during video interviews to increase their chances of getting hired.

Once they're employed, they remit much ...