Amazon says over 1,800 North Koreans blocked from applying for jobs at tech giant

SEOUL – US tech giant Amazon said it has blocked more than 1,800 North Koreans from joining the company, as Pyongyang sends large numbers of information technology workers overseas
to earn and launder funds.

In a post on LinkedIn, Amazon 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 US”.

He said the company 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, Mr 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 US companies.

The scheme generated more than US$17 million (S$21.9 million) in revenue for her and North Korea, officials said.

And Seoul’s intelligence agency warned in 2024 that North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and approached South Koreans working at defence firms to obtain information on their technologies. AFP