A newly unsealed federal criminal indictment says North Korean criminals stole $1 million in cryptocurrency from Atlanta blockchain security startup Starter Labs.
"The defendants used fake and stolen personal identities to conceal their North Korean nationality, pose as remote IT workers, and exploit their victims' trust to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars," said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. "This indictment highlights the unique threat North Korea poses to companies that hire remote IT workers and underscores our resolve to prosecute any actor, in the United States or abroad, who steals from Georgia businesses."
The FBI indicted Kim Kwang Jin, Kang Tae Bok, Jong Pong Ju and Chang Nam Il on wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges. According to the FBI, the men used fake and stolen identities to infiltrate the American business as remote IT workers. They then gained their employer's trust to gain access to the company's virtual currency and steal it.
The Atlanta business and a Serbian company also targeted said they wouldn't have hired the men had they known they were North Korean citizens.
All four men indicted are wanted. FBI agents are now offering a $5 million for information.
The North Koreans worked for the Atlanta company for about two years before striking and cleaning out a cryptocurrency account.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 05, @02:24AM (1 child)
Inflammatory / clickbait word.
You cheap out, take a risk hiring "remote workers" because cheap, you don't really know who they are, and you get karma.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Saturday July 05, @04:57PM
They should hire me. I'm remote but expensive.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday July 05, @03:44AM (2 children)
Who is such a fool that even wants to hire some remote IT workers? Crazy that.
I don't take this. There must be a fine reason behind the setup. My bet is, whoever hired them, is the original mastermind of the plot and took his greater share.
Anyway, if something like that happened in East Asia, no matter the legality or size of enterprise, no matter in which country, that person would be forced to take responsibility on himself. It's heavy social disqualification. You know what "taking responsibility" really means in Eastasia. For centuries.
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 05, @03:54AM
Good questions, would be good to find out. My hunch, as I posted above, is they wanted the cheapest IT workers they could get. Greed is a huge motivator.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday July 05, @02:57PM
Or thought he would. This is rather sudden and public for a inside job which would be considered successful by the insider. But par for the course for an expensive lesson on the Prisoner's dilemma.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Frosty Piss on Saturday July 05, @04:23PM (2 children)
Which is it? Millions, or hundreds of thousands?
In any case, its unclear to me if the North Koreans actually stole money / bitcoin / whatever, or simply provided IT services without disclosing their nationality?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 07, @01:01AM (1 child)
From the indictment linked in TFA:
(Score: 2) by Frosty Piss on Monday July 07, @08:01PM
I'm wondering why *anyone* would give a contractor they have personally never met access to those kinds of asset?