In the United States, a fraudulent scheme was uncovered whereby IT workers from North Korea used stolen identities to pose as Americans and get jobs in American companies.
Among other things, a 27-year-old Ukrainian, Oleksandr Didenko, was involved in this case, helping Koreans obtain new identities.
The US Department of Justice says that IT workers from the sanctioned countries worked for more than 300 American companies, most of which are among the largest Fortune 500 companies.
They have infiltrated major television companies, a Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace manufacturer, an automobile manufacturer, premium retailers, and media and entertainment companies.
The Korean specialists worked for these companies under stolen American identities, using laptop farms in the United States for remote access to make their locations appear as if they were working from America. They were assisted by a 49-year-old woman from Arizona, Christina Marie Chapman.
She owned laptop farms to which workers from North Korea were connected and helped them get hired by companies. She also received and forged payroll checks and received direct deposits of foreign IT workers' salaries from U.S. companies to her U.S. financial accounts.
Chapman and her co-conspirators compromised more than 60 individuals, affected more than 300 U.S. companies, caused false information to be reported to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security more than 100 times, and created false tax liabilities for more than 35 individuals.
As a result of their actions, at least $6.8 million in income was diverted to foreign illegal workers, including a worker from North Korea, who used the money to further finance the dictatorship. There is also a risk that these workers may have stolen much of the companies' data.
But Ukrainian Oleksandr Didenko helped these specialists with stolen identities. According to the Justice Department, he created profiles on American job search sites and money transfer services using stolen identities. He then sold these accounts on his website.
Didenko also admitted in reports that he realized he was selling these profiles to IT workers from North Korea. Didenko also owned computer farms in the United States that were used for remote connectivity. Through these farms, evidence of Didenko and Chapman's cooperation was also found.
Both Chapman and Didenko have already been arrested. Chapman is in the United States, but Didenko was arrested in Poland, from where he will be transferred to the United States. The woman faces a sentence of up to 97.5 years in prison, and the Ukrainian - 67.5.
In April, it was also reported that animators from North Korea were working on popular shows for Max and Amazon streaming services.