Crackdown on North Korean IT Worker Scam Unmasked in St. Louis

Fourteen North Korean nationals have been indicted in a scheme where IT workers used false identities to work with US companies, funneling wages to North Korea for weapons development. The operation generated over $88 million for North Korea, with charges including wire fraud and identity theft filed against those involved.

In a significant development, authorities have indicted 14 North Korean nationals for orchestrating a scheme where IT workers, operating under false identities, contracted with US companies and funneled earnings back to North Korea. These funds, amounting to over $88 million, were reportedly used for the development of ballistic missiles and other weaponry. According to Ashley T. Johnson, head of the FBI's St. Louis office, some workers even accessed sensitive information from companies or demanded extortion payments by threatening to leak data.

The victims include defrauded firms and individuals whose identities were stolen across the United States, notably in Missouri. Charges against the accused include wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft, among others, as per the indictments filed in the US District Court in St. Louis. Although most suspects are presumed to be in North Korea, the US Department of State has announced a $5 million reward for information leading to their arrest.

This scheme, as outlined by federal authorities, involved dispatched North Korean IT workers getting positions remotely or as freelancers with US companies, sometimes using stolen identities or paying Americans to impersonate them in job interviews. Johnson emphasized the FBI's focus on domestic enablers of such activities, advising companies to rigorously verify the identity of remote IT workers to mitigate risks.

(With inputs from agencies.)