Current:Home > ScamsFBI: Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea to help fund weapons program -Visionary Growth Labs
FBI: Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea to help fund weapons program
View
Date:2025-04-17 21:44:10
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Thousands of information technology workers contracting with U.S. companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program, FBI and Department of Justice officials said.
The Justice Department said Wednesday that IT workers dispatched and contracted by North Korea to work remotely with companies in St. Louis and elsewhere in the U.S. have been using false identities to get the jobs. The money they earned was funneled to the North Korean weapons program, FBI leaders said at a news conference in St. Louis.
Federal authorities announced the seizure of $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of the investigation, which is ongoing.
Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the St. Louis FBI office, said any company that hired freelance IT workers “more than likely” hired someone participating in the scheme.
Other news
Evidence shows Hamas militants likely used some North Korean weapons in attack on Israel
Russian foreign minister offers security talks with North Korea and China as he visits Pyongyang
Russia’s foreign minister thanks North Korea for ‘unwavering’ support of its war in Ukraine
“This scheme is so prevalent that companies must be vigilant to verify whom they’re hiring,” Greenberg said in a news release. “At a minimum, the FBI recommends that employers take additional proactive steps with remote IT workers to make it harder for bad actors to hide their identities.”
Officials didn’t name the companies that unknowingly hired North Korean workers, or say when the practice began.
Court documents allege that the government of North Korea dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers to live primarily in China and Russia with the goal of deceiving businesses from the U.S. and elsewhere into hiring them as freelance remote employees.
The IT workers generated millions of dollars a year in their wages to benefit North Korea’s weapons programs. In some instances, the North Korean workers also infiltrated computer networks and stole information from the companies that hired them, the Justice Department said. They also maintained access for future hacking and extortion schemes, the agency said.
Greenberg said the workers used various techniques to make it look like they were working in the U.S., including paying Americans to use their home Wi-Fi connections.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are high as North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and the U.S. has expanded its military exercises with its Asian allies, in tit-for-tat responses.
In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a “new Cold War,” state media said.
In February, United Nations experts said that North Korean hackers working for the government stole record-breaking virtual assets last year estimated to be worth between $630 million and more than $1 billion. The panel of experts said in a report that the hackers used increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain access to digital networks involved in cyberfinance, and to steal information that could be useful in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs from governments, individuals and companies.
veryGood! (91255)
Related
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- 2 youths were killed in the latest fire blamed on an e-bike in New York City
- Why can't Twitter and TikTok be easily replaced? Something called 'network effects'
- Why Tia Mowry Says Her 2 Kids Were Part of Her Decision to Divorce Cory Hardrict
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Inside Clean Energy: In Illinois, an Energy Bill Passes That Illustrates the Battle Lines of the Broader Energy Debate
- More states enacting laws to allow younger teens to serve alcohol, report finds
- Zac Efron Shares Rare Photo With Little Sister Olivia and Brother Henry During the Greatest Circus Trip
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Rep. Tony Gonzales, who represents 800 miles of U.S.-Mexico border, calls border tactics not acceptable
Ranking
- US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
- Inside Clean Energy: Three Charts that Show the Energy Transition in 50 States
- Facebook users can apply for their portion of a $725 million lawsuit settlement
- There are even more 2020 election defamation suits beyond the Fox-Dominion case
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Is the Paris Agreement Working?
- Apple Flash Deal: Save $375 on a MacBook Pro Laptop Bundle
- Rural Pennsylvanians Set to Vote for GOP Candidates Who Support the Natural Gas Industry
Recommendation
Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
Blake Lively Gives a Nod to Baby No. 4 While Announcing New Business Venture
Netflix’s Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Movie Reveals Fiery New Details
GOP governor says he's urged Fox News to break out of its 'echo chamber'
Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
Al Jaffee, longtime 'Mad Magazine' cartoonist, dies at 102
Is the Paris Agreement Working?
Texas A&M Shut Down a Major Climate Change Modeling Center in February After a ‘Default’ by Its Chinese Partner