Ukrainian convicted for helping fake North Korean IT workers

A Ukrainian man has been sentenced to five years in prison after helping North Korean IT workers infiltrate American companies using stolen identities, reports Bleepingcomputer.

The 39-year-old man from Kiev pleaded guilty in November 2025 to charges including aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit fraud. He has also agreed to surrender assets worth over $1.4 million, including cash and cryptocurrency.

According to US authorities, he stole identities from hundreds of people, including US citizens, and sold them to foreign IT workers who used them to obtain remote jobs at around 40 companies in the US.

The 39-year-old is also said to have provided hundreds of so-called proxy identities and accounts on freelance platforms, as well as helping to run several laptop farms in different countries. The arrangement made it appear as if the computers and workers were located in the US, even though they were actually working from abroad.