The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI on Monday announced an arrest and indictments related to North Korea’s 'IT worker' program, through which North Koreans secured remote tech jobs at more than a 100 U.S. companies to steal money and data globally.
The actions include two indictments, one arrest, searches of 29 suspected 'laptop farms' in 16 states, and the seizure of 29 financial accounts and 21 fraudulent websites used for laundering illicit funds.
According to court documents, the schemes involve North Korean individuals fraudulently obtaining employment with U.S. companies as remote IT workers, using stolen and fake identities. The North Korean actors were assisted by individuals in the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, and Taiwan, and successfully obtained employment with more than 100 U.S. companies.
From 2021 until October 2024, the defendants and other co-conspirators compromised the identities of more than 80 U.S. persons to obtain remote jobs at more than a 100 U.S. companies, including many Fortune 500 companies, and caused U.S. victim companies to incur legal fees, computer network remediation costs, and other damages and losses of at least $3 million.
The North Koreans also allegedly stole at least $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency from one Georgia-based company with their access, along with employer data and source code, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) data, from a California-based defense contractor, the DOJ said.
Zhenxing 'Danny' Wang and Kejia Wang, both U.S. citizens, were indicted as part of the operation, according to the DOJ. Zhenxing Wang was arrested in New Jersey, while Kejia Wang remains free, a DOJ spokesperson said in an email. An attorney for Zhenxing Wang could not be immediately located.
The two men, along with four other unnamed U.S. 'facilitators,' assisted the North Koreans by procuring and operating laptops used by the overseas workers, created financial accounts to receive money earned by the workers to be sent back to North Korea, and created shell companies to make the workers appear more authentic, according to the DOJ, earning nearly $700,000 from the scheme for themselves.
Simultaneously with today’s announcement, the FBI and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) seized 17 web domains used in furtherance of the charged scheme and further seized 29 financial accounts, holding tens of thousands of dollars in funds, used to launder revenue for the North Korean regime through the remote IT work scheme.
Federal prosecutors also indicted six Chinese nationals and two Taiwanese nationals for alleged roles in the operation.
China would take all necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of its citizens, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular news briefing on Tuesday.
Ukraine has warned that delays in Western military and financial aid risk giving Russia time to strengthen its positions, with officials citing past p...
Kabul’s streets were lined with white flags and decorated banners on Friday as Afghanistan marked the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s return t...
Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is set to become a meeting point for musicians from across the Asian continent as it prepares to host the first-eve...
Hopes for a Ukraine ceasefire have buoyed bond prices, but investors remain sceptical that Friday’s Trump–Putin summit will yield major breakthrou...
The Trump administration is considering a refugee cap of around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority of spots reportedly allocated to white S...
North Korea condemned a planned joint military exercise by South Korea and the U.S. as a “direct military provocation” and warned of countermeasures, despite signs of easing tensions across the border under South Korea’s new leadership.
South Korea announced on Tuesday that North Korea has shown no signs of dismantling its own border loudspeakers, even after Seoul began removing its devices as a goodwill gesture to reduce tensions.
Nuclear weapons remain among the most powerful and feared tools in global geopolitics — deadly enough to level cities in seconds, yet only possessed by a handful of countries. Eight decades after they were first used in warfare, fears of a renewed arms race are resurfacing amid growing tensions.
South Korea has began dismantling loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korean messages along the border on Monday, according to its defence ministry. The move is part of President Lee Jae Myung’s administration to reduce tensions with Pyongyang.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
A resumption of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports is not expected in the near term, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, despite an announcement by Iraq’s federal government a day earlier stating that shipments would resume immediately.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 56 kilometres east of Gorgan in northern Iran early Sunday morning, according to preliminary seismic data.
Ukraine has warned that delays in Western military and financial aid risk giving Russia time to strengthen its positions, with officials citing past pauses in support that led to territorial losses and heavier casualties.
Kabul’s streets were lined with white flags and decorated banners on Friday as Afghanistan marked the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power on 15 August 2021.
Hopes for a Ukraine ceasefire have buoyed bond prices, but investors remain sceptical that Friday’s Trump–Putin summit will yield major breakthroughs.
The Trump administration is considering a refugee cap of around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority of spots reportedly allocated to white South Africans, signaling a significant shift in U.S. refugee policy.
The South Korean government has voiced “deep disappointment and regret” over visits by Japanese officials to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, urging that any improvement in bilateral ties must be grounded in Japan’s willingness to confront its wartime past, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment