ST. LOUIS (AP) — The head of the FBI office in St. Louis announced Thursday that 14 North Korean nationals have been charged in a scheme that involved contracting with U.S. companies using fictitious identities as information technology workers, who then transferred their earnings to North Korea for the development of ballistic missiles and other weapons.
Ashley T. Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI office in St. Louis, stated during a press conference that the North Korean government had made over $88 million from the plan that involved thousands of IT personnel. According to Johnson, in addition to their salary, the employees threatened to divulge information or stole confidential company data in return for extortion money.
According to Johnson, victims included deceived businesses and individuals whose identities were taken from all around the United States, including Missouri. The U.S. District Court in St. Louis received the indictments on Wednesday. Charges include identity theft, money laundering, and wire fraud against all 14 individuals.
It is thought that the majority of the accused are in North Korea. It will be challenging to bring them to justice, Johnson admitted. The U.S. Department of State is providing assistance by offering a $5 million reward for information that could lead to the whereabouts of any of the accused.
According to federal authorities, the plan operated as follows:
Thousands of IT professionals were sent by North Korea to work remotely or as independent contractors for American businesses. The scheme’s IT personnel occasionally utilized identities that had been stolen. In other cases, they hired Americans to pretend to be IT workers during on-camera job interviews or to utilize their home Wi-Fi connections. According to Johnson, the FBI is also targeting those domestic enablers.
According to Johnson, this is only the beginning. If your company has hired fully remote IT workers, more likely than not, you have hired or at least interviewed a North Korean national working on behalf of the North Korean government, Johnson said.
The Justice Department in recent years has sought to expose and disrupt a broad variety of criminal schemes aimed at bolstering the North Korean regime, including its nuclear weapons program.
In 2021, the Justice Department charged three North Korean computer programmers and members of the government s military intelligence agency in abroad range of global hacksthat officials say were carried out at the behest of the regime. In contrast to other hostile countries like Russia, China, and Iran, which are typically more interested in espionage, intellectual property theft, or even upsetting democracy, law enforcement officials at the time stated that the prosecution emphasized the profit-driven motivation behind North Korea’s criminal hacking.
In May 2022, the State Department, Department of the Treasury, and the FBIissued an advisorywarning of attempts by North Koreans to obtain employment while posing as non-North Korean nationals. The advisory noted that in recent years, the regime of Kim Jong Un has placed increased focus on education and training in IT-related subjects.
In October 2023, the FBI in St. Louis announced the seizure of $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of the investigation. The indictments announced Tuesday were the first stemming from the investigation.
Johnson urged companies to thoroughly vet IT workers hired to work remotely. One of the ways to help minimize your risk is to insist current and future IT workers appear on camera as often as possible if they are fully remote, she said.
Officials didn t name the companies that unknowingly hired North Korean workers.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!