10-14-2026 CBN News

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it has broken up a North Korean scheme that stole nearly $1 billion from U.S. companies.

The FBI raided about 40 “laptop farms” in Texas last month, seizing more than 185 computers and other electronic devices.

The plot involved North Korean IT workers using stolen American identities, sometimes hiring people to attend in-person interviews and secure remote jobs with U.S. companies.

“North Korea’s rogue regime uses its pervasive IT worker schemes to raise revenue for various illicit purposes, including the development of weapons that could ultimately target the United States or its allies,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.

The scheme relied on people inside the United States who received computers shipped by those companies and installed remote-access software, giving the North Koreans the appearance of working within the country.

Fourteen people have been charged in the investigation.

Ryan Raybould, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said, “If you’re an individual and you have 50 laptops in your family room, you’re doing something wrong, okay? It’s frankly ridiculous.”

Dozens of companies and government agencies unwittingly hired the North Korean workers, who sent about 90% of their earnings to their communist regime back in Pyongyang.

“Threats posed by nation-states like North Korea are a stark reminder that our adversaries will go to great measures to exploit our nation’s economic strength to further and fuel their own nefarious agendas,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio.

The U.S. Treasury estimates the scheme generated more than $800 million for North Korea in 2024.