Two Americans convicted of helping North Korea steal $5 million in fake IT worker schemes

Two US citizens were sentenced to seven and a half years and nine years for their role in helping the North Korean government plant remote IT workers at American companies.

Wednesday, the US Department of Justice he announced Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang, both residents of New Jersey. The two are accused of contributing to a fraud scheme, specifically by running or overseeing so-called “laptop farms” inside the US, which allowed North Koreans to attach laptops and appear to be living and working in the country.

The plan cost North Korea about $5 million. It also involved those who conspired to steal the personal information of more than 80 Americans and gain employment at more than 100 US corporations, including some Fortune 500 companies, according to the DOJ. This also allowed North Korean IT workers to not only receive paychecks, but also in some cases steal trade secrets and source code, the Justice Department said.

“This case allowed North Korean IT operators to unknowingly pay for US companies and US computers, which compromised our national security,” John A. Eisenberg, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for National Security, said in the announcement.

Prosecutors said that between 2021 and 2024, working with colleagues, Kejia managed the operation of laptop farms made up of many computers, while Zhenxing lived with computers at his home. The two also created shell companies with financial accounts linked to bogus IT staff to pay millions of dollars, which were later transferred overseas. “In exchange for their services, Kejia Wang, Zhenxing Wang, and four other US executives received approximately $700,000 for their services,” read the DOJ’s announcement.

In one case, according to the DOJ, rogue IT workers were able to steal data that was run by an unnamed California AI company.

The US government he announced again Rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of these plots, including information on nine people who allegedly worked with Kejia and Zhenxing.

This is the latest indictment against North Korea’s high-profile conspiracy that has allowed fake IT workers to operate to be employed in hundreds of American and Western companies. Along with major crypto thefts worth more than $2 billion in the past yearThe North Korean government uses this type of fraud to finance its government and military operations, which are under severe sanctions that isolate the world’s economy.

To combat this threat, some companies and employers have come up with creative ways, such as asking suspected North Koreans to insult Kim Jong-Un, which is illegal in the country. In a recent viral video of a job interviewthe petitioner can be seen shaking after the interviewers asked him “”Kim Jong Un is a dirty fat pig.” He then hung up the phone.