Treasury Department Strikes Hard: Sanctions Unleashed on North Korean Crypto Infiltration Scheme

Two Individuals and Four Entities Caught in the Crosshairs

In a fierce move to smash North Korea's sneaky attempts to worm their way into U.S. companies, the Treasury Department has just dropped the hammer! They've slapped sanctions on two shady characters and four slippery entities for helping devious IT workers sneak into crypto firms. Boom!

Check this out: Song Kum Hyok, a North Korean mastermind, and Gayk Asatryan, a Russian schemer, are now in the Treasury's crosshairs. These guys have been caught red-handed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, aiding North Korean IT worker ops targeting the crypto world. No more hiding in the shadows for them!

OFAC's dropping bombshells, saying Song Kum Hyok is tight with North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau and their sneaky hacking crew, Andariel. This dude's been crafting fake IDs, snatching U.S. citizen info like it's candy, and hooking up DPRK IT workers with remote gigs, especially in the crypto scene. Talk about a slick operation!

And get this, these workers? They're splitting their cash with Song, funneling dirty money right into North Korea’s blacklisted weapons programs. It's like a real-life spy movie, but way more dangerous!

Meanwhile, Asatryan’s pulling his own dirty tricks, using his Russia-based companies, Asatryan LLC and Fortuna LLC, to hire a whole army of DPRK IT workers. These guys are locked into contracts with North Korean state trading giants, Korea Songkwang Trading Corporation and Korea Saenal Trading Corporation, which are now also feeling the heat of sanctions for sending workers abroad to bankroll the regime. Cha-ching!

OFAC's making it clear: this is all part of a grand master plan to stop North Korea from deploying thousands of tech-savvy IT warriors, mostly chilling in China and Russia, using fake IDs and phony profiles to land jobs in crypto and tech firms. It's a massive undercover operation!

Once they’re in, these cyber crooks are allegedly using freelance platforms and crypto exchanges to grab and wash funds back to their bosses in North Korea. It's like a high-stakes game of cat and mouse!

The Treasury's straight-up saying, "These workers are playing dirty, hiding who they are, where they're from, and using fake names, proxy accounts, stolen IDs, and forged docs." And yeah, they’re exploiting freelance gigs and crypto exchanges to funnel that cash right back to the DPRK. Sneaky, right?

Investigators are sounding the alarm, saying North Korea’s cyber game has leveled up big time. Gone are the days of simple hacks by groups like Lazarus; now it's all about these sneaky, deception-based moves to slide operatives into legit businesses. It's like a silent invasion!

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT's dropping some serious numbers, estimating that a whopping 920 North Korean IT workers might have infiltrated the digital asset world, pulling in over $16 million from unsuspecting bosses. That's a lot of cash flowing into the wrong hands!

The U.S. isn't messing around anymore. They're going straight for the jugular, targeting the very infrastructure propping up North Korea’s IT infiltration games. The Department of Justice is leading the charge, hitting DPRK-linked operatives with criminal charges and chasing down millions in laundered crypto through asset forfeiture cases. It's a full-on war against cybercrime!