Oleksandr Didenko was sentenced to 5 years in US prison and ordered to forfeit $1.4 million for running a massive identity theft and “laptop farm” operation. His service provided over 870 stolen US identities and spoofed IP addresses, allowing North Korean operatives to bypass hiring checks and fraudulently secure remote tech jobs at 40 American companies. This scheme enabled the North Korean regime to secretly funnel lucrative US tech wages back home while establishing insider access to corporate networks.
TIL that if I were to get a job in tech, I’d be funneling lucrative wages to my bank account while establishing insider access to corporate networks.
I mean, I am a US citizen, so it would be perfectly legal and normal for me to do that. The only alleged dishonest part of this story is using a stolen or faked identity to get a job and even then, there are citizens of the US who lie about their capabilities or connections in interviews to get hired because it’s a fucked system so…
I just think it’s funny that they try to make “getting money from a job and knowing what’s happening at the company you work for” sound like scary clandestine stuff. Just because it’s N-N-North Koreans…! But I’m sure if this was Indian people or something, people from a country who the US does not vilify in the same way, they would at most call it fraud and leave it at that.