TechFlow, July 1 - According to Decrypt, U.S. federal prosecutors announced on Monday that four North Korean nationals infiltrated a blockchain startup in Atlanta by posing as remote developers, stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency. The suspects allegedly operated first in the UAE before infiltrating cryptocurrency firms in the United States and Serbia as remote IT workers. After gaining trust, they stole funds twice in 2022—amounting to $175,000 and $740,000 respectively—and laundered the money through mixers and exchanges using fake identification documents.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched coordinated actions across 16 states, seizing 29 financial accounts, 21 fraudulent websites, and approximately 200 computers supporting North Korea's IT program. Security experts warn that this infiltration tactic has become a "standard operating procedure" for North Korean cyber operations, exploiting vulnerabilities in the remote-work culture of the crypto industry to fund its weapons programs.
