Laptop farmer behind $17M North Korean IT worker scam locked up for 8.5 years
- Reference: 1753396171
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/24/laptop_farmer_north_korean_it_scam_sentenced/
- Source link:
After her [1]arrest in May 2024, 50-year-old Christina Marie Chapman [2]pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. In addition to her 102-month prison term, Chapman will also serve three years of supervised release, and must forfeit $284,555.92 that was to be paid to the North Koreans, in addition to a $176,850 judgment, according to the US Attorney's Office.
This was one of the largest-ever North Korean IT worker scams prosecuted by the Justice Department, with 68 US persons' identities stolen and 309 US businesses, along with two international firms, defrauded.
Corporations failing to verify virtual employees pose a security risk for all
According to [3]court documents , Chapman ran a laptop farm out of her home from October 2020 to October 2023. During this time, she hosted computers for overseas IT workers posing as US citizens and residents, enabling the devices to appear as if they were operating from within the United States.
Chapman also shipped 49 laptops and other devices supplied by US companies to locations overseas, including multiple shipments to a Chinese city near the North Korean border. More than 90 computers were seized from Chapman's home after cops executed a search warrant in October 2023.
[4]
Through this scheme, Chapman helped her fellow fraudsters land jobs at more than 300 American companies, including Fortune 500 corporations, a top-five major television network, a Silicon Valley technology company, an aerospace manufacturer, an American car maker, a luxury retail store, and a media and entertainment company, according to the DoJ.
[5]
[6]
The fake IT workers also tried to obtain employment — and access to information — with two different US government agencies on three different occasions, "although these attempts were discovered and thwarted, due to the agencies' enhanced due diligence," the court documents said.
Workers who successfully obtained employment as part of the scam then received payroll checks at Chapman's home with direct deposits sent to her US bank accounts. According to the Department of Justice, the illegal revenue was ultimately laundered and funneled to North Korea, potentially contributing to the DPRK's [7]weapons programs .
[8]
In a separate case unsealed in December, the DOJ estimated that North Korean IT worker fraud schemes cost US businesses at least [9]$88 million over six years .
[10]Arizona laptop farmer pleads guilty for funneling $17M to Kim Jong Un
[11]Three cuffed for 'helping North Koreans' secure remote IT jobs in America
[12]You have a fake North Korean IT worker problem – here's how to stop it
[13]I'm a security expert, and I almost fell for a North Korea-style deepfake job applicant …Twice
"The call is coming from inside the house," US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro [14]said in announcing the sentencing. "If this happened to these big banks, to these Fortune 500, brand name, quintessential American companies, it can or is happening at your company."
Pirro's warning [15]echoes similar statements from execs at Google, Snowflake, and other major tech companies, all of whom have told The Register that if you think your firm doesn't have a fake IT worker problem, you're not paying attention and they've likely already infiltrated your workforce.
"Corporations failing to verify virtual employees pose a security risk for all," Pirro continued. "You are the first line of defense against the North Korean threat."
The FBI on Wednesday issued a list of [16]tips to protect your business from North Korean IT worker threats, including scrutinizing identity verification documents and, when possible, requiring in-person meetings. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/17/three_arrested_for_helping_north_korea/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/arizona_woman_laptop_farm_guilty/
[3] https://www.justice.gov/archives/usao-dc/media/1352191/dl
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aIZNMT419fmMafz2_HPUlAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNMT419fmMafz2_HPUlAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIZNMT419fmMafz2_HPUlAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/08/us_lazarus_group_crypto_seizure/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNMT419fmMafz2_HPUlAAAAAE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/13/doj_dpkr_fake_tech_worker_indictment/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/arizona_woman_laptop_farm_guilty/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/17/three_arrested_for_helping_north_korea/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/13/fake_it_worker_problem/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/11/it_worker_scam/
[14] https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/arizona-woman-sentenced-17m-it-worker-fraud-scheme-illegally-generated-revenue-north
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/13/fake_it_worker_problem/
[16] https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250723-4
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Sorry, but "laptop farmer" just gives me images of some crazy man out in a field planting laptop seeds.
> planting laptop seeds
Acorns?
Kernels?
Or on the organic, artisan farms, Apple seeds?
Pinebook ?
SeedStudio ?
Pepper Pad ?
LimeBook Z9 ?
Pinebook Pro ?
Raspberry, Banana, Mango, Orange Pi ?
Laptop Farm
Is that a bit like a Solar farm, where the fields are full of little solar panels that are nourished and watered until they grow and one day harvested and sold at the market?
There seems to be quite a few of them around these days.
Fraud?
Where's the fraud element in this?
Nowhere does the story say that the work contracted and paid for was not done. That would be fraud.
The story says the work was done by people masquerading under different identities. That's not necessarily fraud, just a bit underhand.
Re: Fraud?
Hmm. Think your definition of fraud needs a rethink. Try claiming benefits from the government with a fake identity, see what you get charged with and report back.
Re: Fraud?
... pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud , aggravated identity theft , and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments ...
So you're a writer, not a reader ?
Re: Fraud?
U.S. sanctions are part of U.S. law, so presumably all sorts of conspiracy/fraud/etc types of charges can attach themselves to situations where you're conspiring to break U.S. sanctions, tricking someone into unknowingly breaking U.S. sanctions or helping you break them, and so on.
Admittedly, U.S. sanctions are deeply *stupid* laws, the primary vector for what Wired recently described as "the enshittification of American power".
But there's no law requiring that laws must be rational or sensible, so there you have it.
Another example of the abysmal state of US civil registry...
... the XVIII century is over - time to enter the XXI. Thinking what was OK 250 years ago is still OK, it's plainly silly. Especially from the country that made the innovations that in turn made impersonating others far, far easier.
But the new loons at the helm now will probably make it even easier, since it can be useful to make more money.
"if you think your firm doesn't have a fake IT worker problem, you're not paying attention"
I don't think my firm has a fake IT worker problem as I'm self-employed.
However, I do sometimes have suspicions about my left elbow...
My thoughts entirely though sometime my left elbow doesn't know what my right elbow is up to.
I run a company of 3. And the IT side tends to fall into my lap. I think i need to be a bit suspicious about myself.
The whole thing actually smacks of poor HR practices and due diligence of the companies that employed someone without actually meeting them, interviewing them and doing background security and identity checks. Maybe not always necessary for a short term contract, but then are they really an employee?
And once again...
the potential rewards seem in no way commensurate with the risk.
Years in jail for a few hundred thou? NFW!
What happened to the millions stashed away in Swiss bank accounts for the day you're released?
Not that I'd trust the Norks to honour their side of the bargain. That's the other issue.