Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported an increase in fake identities related to North Korean operatives holding American corporate jobs. The report showcased how North Korean’s have learned to industrialize the corporate system of America and, in turn, fund their own country.
Remote jobs have existed since technological industrialization in the 70s; however, according to ImproveWorkspace, since COVID, the number of remote jobs has reached a turning point and has spread everywhere. As the corporate world has evolved to include jobs independent of an employee’s location, there’s been a noticeable shift in the workforce and hiring system.
The Journal explains that the standard interview process, usually through a video call, is only one phase North Koreans use to get a job. In other words, the scam is carried out through a variety of departments within the groups. Using social platforms such as Discord, they create designated teams for resume building, interview prep, obtaining work computers, completing assigned tasks, and stealing identities. Despite each branch owning its classifications and duties, these workers are often overworked and underpaid.
Notably, The Journal mentions that identity theft is common with these scams. This raises the question: how are Americans affected? Essentially, the person in charge of creating fake identities often chooses someone whose information is already public. From there, scammers use the victim’s Social Security number to enter the workforce and claim the salary of an American who either doesn’t exist or isn’t currently working.
This leads to problems such as scammers often holding multiple jobs, gaining over a six-figure salary, thus leaving the American whose identity was stolen suffering from inaccessibility to government benefits such as SNAP and Medicare. They may also struggle to secure loans, credit, and pay bills. This poses a security risk to American jobs and government, as “once hired, the workers gain legitimate credentials and trusted access to corporate networks, potentially opening the door to theft, espionage, extortion, and more sophisticated North Korean cyber operations,” says FOX News.
Likewise, this system also allows some Americans to get new jobs. Since the North Korean department holding a work computer oversees consistent logins and verifies the authenticity of the person, these individuals may create Facebook or Discord listings to hire Americans, typically for decent pay, to log in and attend meetings. This creates a cycle that allows North Korean operatives to obtain salaried compensation from stolen jobs and identities of Americans, while also providing compensation to the Americans they robbed.
Although these agents can make six-figure salaries, they are often paid very little, since the operative’s goal is to obtain funds to support North Korea. The Journal estimates that about $800 million USD was sent to North Korea in the year alone, all to fund their nuclear program.
As the operatives continue to advance, agents have begun utilizing artificial intelligence to alter their physical appearance during the interview process. However, because it is still early in implementation, hiring managers have begun identifying false identities or growing suspicious of interviewees.
Moreover, the discovery of this operation raises the question of what new methods and strategies the American workforce will implement to prevent further fraud, and how this discovery may change the technological landscape of our corporate world.