Amazon blocks 1,800 North Koreans from applying for jobs

NEW YORK

U.S. tech giant Amazon said it has blocked over 1,800 North Koreans from joining the company, as Pyongyang sends large numbers of IT workers overseas to earn and launder funds.

In a post on LinkedIn, Amazon's Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt said last week that North Korean workers "have been attempting to secure remote IT jobs with companies worldwide, particularly in the U.S."

He said the firm had seen nearly a one-third rise in applications by North Koreans in the past year.

The North Koreans typically use "laptop farms" — a computer in the United States operated remotely from outside the country, he said.

And he warned the problem "isn't Amazon-specific" and "is likely happening at scale across the industry".

Telltale signs of North Korean workers, Schmidt said, included wrongly formatted phone numbers and dodgy academic credentials.

In July, an Arizona woman was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for running a laptop farm helping North Korean IT workers secure remote jobs at more than 300 U.S. companies.

The scheme generated more than $17 million in revenue for her and North Korea, officials said.

And Seoul's intelligence agency warned last year that North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and approach South Koreans working at defence firms to obtain information on their technologies.