North Koreans Allegedly Using Fake Resumes to Steal Crypto For The Government

Fake IDs and Resumes Used to Launder Cryptocurrency by People Allegedly Working For The North Korean Government.

Bloomberg reports that according to interviews with cybersecurity analysts and statistics, individuals working for the North Korean government in Pyongyang are suspected of plagiarizing resumes and falsely claiming to be from other countries on LinkedIn as part of a larger attempt to raise money for the Korean government.

According to Bloomberg, the fraudsters are stealing information from genuine accounts on LinkedIn and Indeed and using it in their resumes to get jobs at cryptocurrency companies in the United States.

According to Mandiant researchers, numerous suspected North Koreans have successfully been hired as freelancers from different employment sites.

On July 14, Mandiant said that it discovered an account belonging to a job candidate who claimed to be an experienced software engineer. On the other hand, researchers found similar wording in another individual’s profile.

Joe Dobson, a principal analyst at Mandiant, told Bloomberg: “It comes down to insider threats; if someone gets hired onto a crypto project, and they become a core developer, that allows them to influence things, whether for good or not.” 

Several other alleged North Koreans have falsified employment credentials, including one who claimed to have authored a white paper on the Bibox digital currency exchange and another who posed as a senior software engineer at a blockchain technology firm.

Michael Barnhart, a principal analyst at Mandiant, said:

“These are North Koreans trying to get hired and get to a place where they can funnel money back to the regime,” 

The U.S.’ Allegations Against North Korea Might Be True

The claims made by the United States government in May have now been given more support by Mandiant’s analysis. Back then, the US issued a warning that North Korean IT professionals were attempting to seek freelance jobs outside of North Korea while pretending to be citizens of other countries. This is being done to collect funds for the North Korean government’s weapons development projects.

According to the advice issued by the United States, these questionable IT employees possess the abilities essential for sophisticated work such as the creation of mobile applications, the construction of virtual currency exchanges, and mobile gaming.