Amazon Job Fraud 1,800 North Korean Applications Blocked

Amazon job fraud exposed as the company blocks 1,800 fake applications linked to North Korean agents using stolen identities.

Amazon has revealed that it stopped more than 1,800 job applications connected to suspected North Korean operatives, highlighting a growing global hiring threat.

According to Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, these individuals attempted to secure remote IT positions using fake or stolen identities. Their main goal was to earn salaries from US companies and secretly send the money back to support North Korea’s weapons programs.

This type of Amazon job fraud has increased sharply, with the company seeing nearly a 30% rise in suspicious applications over the past year. Many of these applicants relied on “laptop farms” — US-based computers controlled remotely from outside the country — to appear as legitimate American workers.

Amazon used advanced AI screening tools along with manual verification to detect irregularities such as incorrect phone number formats, inconsistent education records, and hijacked LinkedIn profiles. Fraudsters often take over inactive professional accounts to gain credibility during hiring processes.

US and South Korean authorities have already warned companies about this issue. Recently, US officials uncovered dozens of illegal laptop farm operations and charged several brokers who helped North Korean IT workers get hired. In one major case, a US citizen was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after earning millions by supporting this scheme.