The US Justice Department is indicting five individuals including two North Koreans, a Mexican national and two US citizens for defrauding US companies and the US government.
The conspirators apparently obtained remote work from at least 64 US firms and payments from 10 of these companies, “generated at least $866,255 in revenue.”
According to the Justice Department, most of the revenue generated was “laundered through a Chinese bank account.”
This is a North Korean cyber project seeking to “trick US companies into funding the North Korean regime’s priorities, including its weapons programs,” the officials believe.
“Our commitment includes the vigorous pursuit of both the North Korean actors and those providing them with material support,” said supervisory official Devin DeBacker of the Justice Department's National Security division.
“It also includes standing side-by-side with US companies to not only disrupt ongoing victimisation but also to help them independently detect and prevent such schemes in the future,” he added.
Individuals namely, North Korean nationals Jin Sung-Il (진성일) and Pak Jin-Song (박진성), Mexican nationals Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, and US nationals Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor are being indicted.
Fraud Income Directed to North Korea
The income generated from this fraudulent remote work scheme flowed directly to North Korea.
The American nationals Ntekereze and Ashtor were arrested by the FBI. Following a search of Ashtor’s residence in North Carolina, it was discovered that he ran a “laptop farm.”
This laptop farm “hosted victim company-provided laptops to deceive companies into thinking they had hired U.S.-located workers.”
FBI investigation discovered that this fraud is part of “years-long plot to install North Korean IT workers as remote employees to generate revenue for the DPRK regime and evade sanctions”, according to the assistant director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division.
According to the indictment, the accused used forged and stolen identity documents, including US passports containing the stolen personally identifiable information of a US person, to conceal the true identities of Jin, Pak, and other North Korean co-conspirators.
This aided the North Korean nationals to circumvent sanctions and other laws helping them obtain employment with American companies.
The official statement noted that Ntekereze and Ashtor received laptops from US company employers at their residences, downloading and installing remote access software on them, without authorisation, to facilitate IT worker access and to perpetuate the deception of US companies.
“The defendants further conspired to launder payments for the remote IT work through a variety of accounts designed to promote the scheme and conceal its proceeds,” the Justice Department stated.
FBI Cautions US Firms
The alleged treachery against the US drove the FBI to caution all American companies to be cognisant of the risks posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
“The indictments announced today should highlight to all American companies the risk posed by the North Korean government. As always, the FBI is available to assist victims of the DPRK. Please reach out to your local FBI field office should you have any questions or concerns,” said Vorndran.
The accused individuals have been officially “charged with conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to transfer false identification documents.”
While the North Korean nationals, Jin and Pak have been charged with “conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.”
The Department of Justice says that if the defendants are convicted, they are likely to get a 20-year-long penalty in prison.
