A new report suggests North Korean agents are attempting to falsify their way into the crypto space for nefarious purposes.
According to a new Bloomberg , North Koreans are plagiarizing real LinkedIn and Indeed job resumes to gain an unearned and potentially dangerous upper hand in the crypto job market.
Security researchers at Mandiant Inc have found evidence to support the US government’s assertion that North Korean IT workers are posing as non-North Koreans to help secure crypto funding for dangerous weapons.
While claiming to be South Korean, Japanese, or even US-based, the North Korean fraudsters are targetting crypto freelance contracts in Europe and the United States. Authorities say that the bad actors pretend to have extensive experience in things like mobile app development, building virtual currency exchanges and mobile gaming.
Mandiant principal analyst Joe Dobson says the North Korean’s strategy comes down to an “insider threat.”
“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.”
Michael Barnhart, another Mandiant principal analyst, supports the idea that the scam’s purpose is to fund North Korea’s totalitarian regime.
“These are North Koreans trying to get hired and get to a place where they can funnel money back to the regime.”
