The North Korea job scam

[Retro]

Fake applicants from North Korea are an increasing problem in the UK for British employers after it became harder to pull off in the US. This is how they do it:

The fake IT worker scam typically works with the help of “facilitators”, or people with a physical presence in the country where the company inadvertently employing the North Korean agents is based.

These facilitators carry out important assisting work such as providing false passports and maintaining a physical address in the country, where laptops are sent to the IT employee when they are hired.

This laptop is then made accessible to a person working for Pyongyang, who typically does not reside in the same country as the facilitator. However, the fake workers are also known to be taking advantage of companies offering “bring your own device” employment, in which the devices are less easily monitored.

“The bottom line is their operations have a physical presence in the UK, which is the most important step to grow across multiple sectors in the country,” said Hultquist.

Hultquist said carrying out job interviews in person or on video would disrupt North Korean tactics.

They typically send their wages to the NK government, or threaten to spill company secrets when fired. Ugly, huh?

British firms urged to hold video or in-person interviews amid North Korea job scam

Google intelligence report finds UK is a particular target of IT worker ploy that sends wages to Kim Jong Un’s state

uk.finance.yahoo.com