Five plead guilty to helping North Koreans pretend to be US-based IT workers

The US Department of Justice has announced that five people have pleaded guilty to helping North Koreans defraud US companies by pretending to be US-based remote workers. North Korea has previously used fake identities and the direct manipulation of US cybersecurity workers to circumvent international sanctions and funnel money into the country.In this case, the people knew they were helping North Koreans, the DOJ says, and "provided their own, false, or stolen identities" to help the remote workers get jobs. They also "hosted U.S. victim company-provided laptops at residences across the United States" to hide the workers' location. In the case of at least two "facilitators," they also took company drug tests on the workers' behalf.Audricus Phagnasay, Jason Salazar and Alexander Paul Travis each pleaded guilty to one wire fraud conspiracy for their role in the scam. Travis was paid "at least $51,397" for participating, while Phagnasay and