Amazon Blocks 1,800 North Koreans from Jobs in US Remote Work Scheme

Amazon has blocked more than 1,800 North Koreans from joining the company after detecting a surge in their applications for remote IT jobs, part of a widespread scheme where the North Korean regime sends workers abroad to earn and launder money.

In a LinkedIn post, Amazon’s Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt warned that these applicants often use “laptop farms”—computers physically located in the US but operated remotely from overseas—to conceal their true location, and that this deceptive practice is happening across the tech industry.

The alert follows a recent case where an Arizona woman was sentenced to over eight years in prison for running such a farm that helped North Korean IT workers infiltrate more than 300 US companies, generating over $17 million.

This activity is linked to North Korea’s extensive cyber-warfare program, which US officials say has stolen billions, including in cryptocurrency, to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons program.