DOJ Uncovers North Korean Network Stealing Jobs and Money From Americans

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged a dozen people involved in schemes to obtain remote IT positions in America using falsified identities in order to funnel revenue to the tyrannical Communist dictatorship in North Korea (DPRK).

The DOJ announced coordinated actions in Texas and Ohio on October 13, including the seizure of 187 computer devices and charges against a dozen people — most of whom are Chinese — related to remote IT worker schemes. “North Korea’s rogue regime uses its pervasive IT worker schemes to raise revenue for various illicit purposes, including the development of weapons that could ultimately target the United States or its allies,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “These schemes threaten the security of the IT systems and data of the deceived U.S. employers and leave countless victims of identity theft.”

Scams like this not only redirect money to America’s enemies; they also take away jobs that ought to go to American citizens. It is still a tough job market out there for many people my age, and too many companies are failing to catch fraudulent applicants and slacking off on background checks.

So we are talking about a domestic crisis and an international crisis. “This investigation is about far more than fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. “It is about a hostile foreign regime infiltrating American companies through stolen identities and covert access points inside our own borders. Every laptop farm we dismantle shuts down a revenue stream that the North Korean government relies on to fund weapons programs that threaten global stability. Operation Lonestar Roundup sends a clear message: we will not allow enemies of the United States to exploit our businesses or compromise our national security.”

The DOJ said that the scam impacted over 70 American companies and generated $3 million in revenue.

According to the indictment, from 2019 to around July 2025, DPRK IT workers applied for and obtained remote positions by using stolen or fabricated identity documents, virtual private networks and proxy infrastructure to appear as though they were U.S. persons working from within the United States. They also relied on U.S.-based facilitators who received and hosted multiple laptop computers — issued by victim U.S. companies — at their residences in the United States (“laptop farms”), housed and configured those devices, installed remote-access software and transferred earnings to DPRK-controlled accounts.

Global Christian Relief lists North Korea as one of the worst countries in the entire world for persecution of Christians. Human rights experts claimed at the beginning of this year that “North Korea operates the most extensive system of political imprisonment and forced labour in the world, incarcerating an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 people in political prison camps (kwanliso) where prisoners are subjected to forced labour, systematic torture, starvation, and public execution.” The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) states that North Korea uses cyber warfare against America, with hackers even allegedly stealing military secrets to boost a secretive nuclear program.

That is just a very brief snapshot of why the North Korean government is evil — and a threat to America. Now we can add the network of IT workers sending cash to North Korea for extremely dangerous weapons. The DOJ is uncovering one scam network, but could there be similar pro-DPRK scammers still operating?

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