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Arizona laptop farmer pleads guilty for funneling $17M to Kim Jong Un
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoChapman also helped the foreign fraudsters steal the identities of more than 70 US nationals, then use those identities to apply for remote IT jobs, according to the Feds. Those who successfully obtained employment as part of the scam then received payroll checks at Chapman's home with direct deposits sent to her US bank accounts before ultimately being laundered and funneled to North Korea… So, bit more involved than just running a VPN/proxy service.
- ty6853 2y agoThere was probably an army of NK workers to do the lifting. By design an American would have had responsibilities limited to signing the right dotted lines and being a pretty white face at the bank.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoSure, but you lose the ability to claim ignorance about the farm’s activities when you are receiving other people’s pay checks.
- readthenotes1 2y ago[flagged]
- obitsten 2y ago[dead]
- danielheath 2y agoIt's not racist to point out that a white person in the US is far less likely to attract scrutiny from law enforcement, and that's a useful - even qualifying - trait for certain roles in a criminal enterprise.
- jollyllama 2y agoADP could probably find a lot of these pretty quickly.
- brendang_sd 2y agoIf you go asking ADP for this kind of information, they will refuse citing the privacy of the workers. We tried it at a previous company I worked at.
- bwoj 2y agoSure, but why would they? They’re profiting too.
- jollyllama 2y agoGood point. I do think that the counterintelligence will be able to pull some strings and get the info though, ultimately.
- arccy 2y agoI wonder if the laptops are organic, free range laptops
- devonbleak 2y agoFarm to table laptops
- bArray 2y agoThe laptops get a minimum of 30 minutes of fresh air a day via HVAC and they're fed on green energy (courtesy of the neighbour). Occasionally the laptops play up and get overheated, in which case they are taken out and isolated until their behaviour is corrected.
- Bluestein 2y agoBeatings would, then, continue until behaviour improved ... :)
- gosub100 2y agoCattle, not pets
- kgwxd 2y agoGateway 2000s, not Commodores
- JadeNB 2y agoI hope that's a reference to the old Gateway cow-patterned logo.
- userbinator 2y ago...which I believe is itself a reference to (farmer in the) Dell.
- cko 2y ago> Christina Marie Chapman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in a US District Court on Tuesday. Why not treason? Any lawyers know?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ceejayoz 2y agoThe Constitution defines treason very narrowly - the only crime to be specifically defined in it: > Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. The last time we convicted someone for it was in 1949.
- abeppu 2y ago... is helping them get $17M not "giving Aid and Comfort"?
- ceejayoz 2y agoWe are not presently at war with North Korea.
- eschaton 2y agoActually the Korean War hasn’t ended yet.
- ceejayoz 2y agoThe US never declared war on North Korea in the first place, and there are no active hostilities between the two. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_Sta... > The terms used in the definition derive from English legal tradition, specifically the Treason Act 1351. Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws. Enemies are subjects of a foreign government that is in open hostility with the United States.
- sigtrap 2y agoSo I guess it isn’t that hard to get a completely remote no-facetime job after all?!
- IshKebab 2y agoPresumably not if you're willing to work for North Korean salaries.
- mxuribe 2y agoI read somewhere quite recently (sorry, don't have ref. right now) that its a bit of a large team effort (several to many engineers working together) to ensure getting the job, and then a continued team effort (again several to many engineers) to ensure continued high performance at said job...in order to be able to persist the operations. Quite clever as i understand, though brutal for participants i also imagine.
- londons_explore 2y agoMerely bypassing the companies protections will be quite a lot of work. The new Microsoft authenticator app checks if the phone is rooted and checks for valid GPS and VPN connections before it'll allow access for example.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoWait, so if GPS is disabled, I cannot use their authentication app? How dare I presume to pretend to have any privacy.
- stackskipton 2y agoDepends on the setting of the company in question. By default, it's not required.
- theandrewbailey 2y agoI guess I'll have to ask for a phone along with a laptop from any potential employer that requires this app. (I wonder if MS Authenticator would even run on my de-Googled Android.) I'd much prefer to keep work equipment separate from personal equipment anyways.
- rdtsc 2y ago> Fortune 500 companies, including a top-five television network, a premier Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace and defense manufacturer, an American car manufacturer, a luxury retail chain, and a US-hallmark media and entertainment company. Wonder what those companies are, any guesses? https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl > JOHN DOE 1, alias 한지호 Jiho HAN (HAN), was an individual residing overseas who opened accounts with a foreign money service transmitter (“MST”) that conducts U.S. dollar transactions through a branch in New York (hereinafter “MST-1”). HAN would then forward the funds to an individual in the People’s Republic of China (“China”). HAN also received funds from CHAPMAN for an overseas IT worker that CHAPMAN first deposited into one of her U.S. financial accounts. > JOHN DOE 2, alias 浩然 徐 Haoran XU (XU), was an individual residing overseas who registered for financial accounts with U.S. MSTs. XU provided his name, date of birth, and a Chinese National ID to U.S. MSTs to register for these accounts. > JOHN DOE 3, alias 春姬 金 Chunji JIN (JIN), was an individual residing overseas who registered for financial accounts with U.S. MSTs. JIN provided her name, date of birth, and a Chinese National ID to U.S. MSTs to register for these accounts Aha so it's not just NK, China is involved as well. I would guess the Chinese govt is quite happy to look the other way here. > On or about November 15, 2022, CHAPMAN messaged with an overseas IT worker using the screenname “Alexander The Great” (“AT”), wherein AT asked 21 CHAPMAN for assistance creating a background story for a stolen U.S. person identity, “Daniel B.” AT noted that the real Daniel B. had a criminal record and employers were asking for more information as to what offenses were committed. CHAPMAN provided a cover story and asked “What information do you know about Daniel B[.]?? Do you know his race?” AT responded that the real Daniel B. was “a black man” but that he (AT) was Asian. AT then gave CHAPMAN his “real full name,” which was a Chinese name "Alexander the Great" - one can image a poor child, wanted to be a history major, but through an ugly twist of fate, they ended up as a hacker stealing identities and having to solve leet code puzzles with ChatGPT /s
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoNews from February? C'mon OP. Also mostly a 2024 story. Related / connected Nashville case from last year: US dismantles laptop farm used by undercover North Korean IT workers https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41356483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41356483 Also: We found North Korean engineers in our application pile https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41353079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41353079
- tclancy 2y agoHey, not everything can be farm to table. Sometimes stuff has to get rerouted a few times.
- carterschonwald 2y agoHas anyone else seen the term “Norks” before? The intended meaning is clear when it’s used midway in the article but I’ve never seen it ever before.
- burnte 2y agoTook me a moment to figure it out too.
- floren 2y agoEl Reg uses it pretty consistently.
- bsimpson 2y agoThe Register has a reputation for being playful with language.
- decimalenough 2y agoIt's an old US military/intelligence term. And it's somewhat amusing in Australia, where "norks" is slang for "tits".
- gerdesj 2y agoNorks has at least two meanings in en_GB. North Koreans and (generally) female breasts. The first has a pretty obvious derivation and the second is anyone's guess. Surely no-one would conflate norks with norks. Please, no riffing on the sheer size of the Dear Leader's ... errm ... norks. Now, how about "nack", "nark", "nick", "nock", "neck", "nerk" and "nuck"? I know they are all valid en_GB words, except nuck but I'll bet it is in use somewhere. Slap a k on the front for more fulsome larkery. Hopefully that has cleared that up. (edit: add some more n..k words and a note about a leading k)
- Wingman4l7 2y agoFirst place I ever heard it was in the FPS game Homefront, where you're part of a "resistance movement fighting in the near-future against the military occupation of the Western United States by a reunified Korea".
- throw7 2y agoWhat is "The Norks"? (apparently it can mean "tits", but I'm pretty sure that's not what it means here)
- JadeNB 2y agoIn the context, almost certainly North Koreans.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mmh0000 2y agoDerogatory slang for North Koreans[1] Though not commonly used; though it does pop-up from time-to-time[2] [1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Norks https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Norks [2] https://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/korean-war-ii-watch-norks-mass-50k-troops-border-greg-pollowitz/ https://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/korean-war-ii-watch-...
- some_random 2y agoColloquial term for North Koreans, similar to Chicoms (Chinese Communists). I'm not what the modern connotation is, in my mind it's a little suspect but not really offensive compared to the typical race based terms used in other conflicts.
- aussieguy1234 2y agoIt's a reference to the Dear Leader's chest
- autoexec 2y agoA VPN or a botnet would have accomplished the same thing as the laptops. The real problem was that she opened bank accounts, had the scammers direct deposit their checks there and then tried to launder the money and get it back to North Korea
- JohnMakin 2y ago> A VPN or a botnet would have accomplished the same thing as the laptops. Erm, no. Company is going to ship you a laptop and you are a NK spy. Where do they send it?
- mynameisjeb 2y ago[dead]
- johnea 2y agoI have a serious issue with this idea that anyone trying to remote s/w engineer from North Korea is automatically a terrorist. Maybe some of them are just trying to make a living? Maybe a lot of them are economically disadvantageous because, like with Cuba, the US has been f_cking with them non-stop for the last 75 years? Maybe instead of assuming that every person inside a geographic area agrees to all the exact same things, we should normalize relations with North Korea? The Cold War, like all other wars, is an idiot's errand, which has contributed to the entrenched hostilities that continue to dominate international relations. Maybe world leaders should try "adulting"? Since pretending to be a grown-up seems to be as close as anyone gets anymore...
- IncreasePosts 2y agoHow are these poor people even getting internet? North Koreans can't just hop on the web. Maybe if they live near the border with China they can use antennas to get onto someone Chinese persons wifi network?
- netsharc 2y agoIndeed, it would be very implausible that a civilian North Korean would be able to accomplish all of: having the hardware, be able to get on a Chinese WiFi, and then have the education to be able to apply to IT jobs...
- throwaway48476 2y agoThey have offices with attached dormitories in China that they work out of.
- suid 2y ago> I have a serious issue with this idea that anyone trying to remote s/w engineer from North Korea is automatically a terrorist. > Maybe some of them are just trying to make a living?I have a serious issue with this idea that anyone trying to remote s/w engineer from North Korea is automatically a terrorist. > Maybe some of them are just trying to make a living? No one in North Korea get to "just make a living" communicating with and working for foreign entities. This is a country that is so paranoid that every visitor to the country is required to stay with an official escort who will vet any contact you have with locals. The only way that someone gets to communicate with a foreign entity is if they are employed, or closely managed, by the North Korean authorities.
- ridiculous_leke 2y agoWhat was her motivation? Financial problems or just greed?
- thinkingemote 2y agoShe basically set up her own company and invoiced the "clients" for her services. To me, it appears that the clients over time pushed the envelope of illegality, that initially her company was innocent web design or something and she got sucked into doing things she very much knew were federal crimes.
- csdx 2y agoApparently the best way to filter out fake NK workers in interviews, one can just ask: “How fat is Kim Jong Un?” [1]. I am not sure how true it is, but I found it amusing anyway. Also I just realised this is my second HN comment, last one was 11 years ago exactly today. 1/365 chance I guess. Not bad. [1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/north_korea_worker_interview_questions/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/north_korea_worker_in...
- __jonas 2y agoI’d say I’m also probably quite likely to instantly leave an interview call if I’m asked this, it’s a pretty unhinged question to be asked out of nowhere, not sure how high their false positives are with that one
- bozhark 2y ago[flagged]
- bozhark 2y agoSee you for round 2 in 2036
- mock-possum 2y agoThe handler briefing the NK agents: “now remember, we’ve set up a sophisticated system of lies and reasonable justifications for your credentials and connections to employers, and youre allowed to fabricate anything and everything in pursuit of tricking them into getting hired… … except for one thing.”
- JohnnyLarue 2y agoExcuse me...? "Norks"? Why, that sounds suspiciously like a nascent slur. And - as my Aussie comrades will confirm - a dreadful slang collision.
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago'Norks', has been around a while. Especially in Ukraine, where "Orc's", has been used to refer to russian invaders. Sticking an 'N' on the front just makes sense, especially in military environments. Tits, though, have been around forever, and an aussie quirk-of-the-language shouldn't dictate international communication. Let's just hope the Bazongan's don't get too yippy.
- RainyDayTmrw 2y agoOK. This was a pretty blatant case, especially the banking under false identities. Where do we draw the line, though? If you hire a freelancer online in good faith, and it turns out they're from a sanctioned place, how much are you liable, and how much should you be liable?
- metalman 2y agoThis is just the best indication that we are living in a whole new way of bieng. All the pieces from a dark, cyberpunk book, except reality has it in some womans house,details missing, but likely in a spare bedroom, in ? suburban Arizona. What I find unacceptable is that, Christina Marie Chapman, cyber criminal extrodinare, was not offered a plea deal to drag the NK actors further into the open, 17mill bieng inconsequential in the scale of the games afoot, and that there is an unseemly rush to get her out of the picture. All in all a sureal and adsurd happening that deserves a closer look, just to make it clear, that this describes and defines our world and we better take note.
- thinkingemote 2y agoa closer look: https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl