Arizona woman accused in scheme aiding North Korean IT workers to raise millions

US federal prosecutors have charged an Arizona woman with taking part in a complex fraud scheme. This scheme involved helping foreign IT workers pretend to be Americans, secure jobs at major US companies, and generate $6.8 million in revenue. This money could potentially benefit the nuclear-armed North Korean regime.

According to an indictment revealed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the scheme affected the identities of 60 Americans and impacted 300 US companies. Among these companies were a major national TV network, a top Silicon Valley tech firm, and a well-known American car manufacturer. However, the indictment did not specify the names of these companies.

Christina Chapman, a woman from Arizona, has been accused of operating a "laptop farm" from her home. This involved logging into laptops issued by US companies on behalf of foreign IT workers. The goal was to deceive companies into thinking that the workers were based in the US. Some of these workers are said to be North Korean nationals, according to the indictment.

Chapman is facing nine charges, including conspiracy to defraud the US. As of now, there is no information available about Chapman's legal representation.

The indictment does not name the agencies, but it reveals that overseas IT workers tried to gain employment and access information at two different U.S. government agencies on three separate occasions. Prosecutors stated that these attempts were discovered and stopped.

This indictment highlights a larger issue that U.S. officials have been working to prevent for years. It shows how numerous North Korean IT workers abroad are attempting to evade sanctions and send money back to Pyongyang.

IT workers are pretending to be from different countries, offering to work remotely, and applying for jobs in various fields such as gaming, IT support, and artificial intelligence, as mentioned in a 2022 public warning from the State Department and other agencies.

Experts suggest that some of these IT workers collaborate with North Korean hackers, who are a significant source of revenue for the regime. According to a White House official, approximately half of North Korea's missile program has been financed through cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft.

A California-based cryptocurrency startup founder unknowingly paid tens of thousands of dollars to a North Korean engineer, as revealed in a previous CNN investigation. The entrepreneur only became aware of this situation when alerted by the FBI.

Independent researchers recently disclosed to CNN that North Korean illustrators and graphic designers might have contributed to projects for US animation studios without the knowledge of these companies. This discovery was made when the researchers stumbled upon a collection of cartoon sketches on a publicly accessible computer server within the North Korean internet domain.

Editor's P/S:

The intricate fraud scheme exposed by US federal prosecutors unveils a disturbing reality: North Korea's relentless pursuit of illicit revenue