The Justice Department said it found North Korean IT workers secretly hired by U.S. companies. These workers used stolen names and fake addresses to get jobs that looked completely normal on the surface. They logged in from overseas while posing as people who lived in American cities.
Investigators say several helpers inside the United States made the scheme possible. These helpers set up bank accounts, handled company laptops, and kept the real locations of the workers hidden. Their actions let the workers blend into remote-job teams without raising alarms.
The DOJ believes more than a hundred companies were pulled into the scheme. Many of them thought they were hiring ordinary remote staff for programming or tech support. Instead, the workers quietly sent their earnings back to North Korea.
Federal agents recovered a large amount of money tied to the operation. Officials say the funds would have supported programs run by the North Korean government.
The announcement puts remote-hiring practices back under the spotlight. The DOJ is urging companies to review identity checks and watch for strange login patterns, mismatched documents, or equipment routed through unexpected places.