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Minh Phuong Vong, Illicit IT Scheme Facilitation, Bowie MD, 2024
A Maryland man was arrested and charged with facilitating an illicit IT scheme that generated hundreds of millions of dollars for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Minh Phuong Vong, 32, of Bowie, Maryland, was arrested on charges related to his alleged role in facilitating the IT scheme, which involved the use of pseudonymous email, social media, payment platform and online job site accounts, as well as false websites, proxy computers, and witting and unwitting third parties located in the United States and elsewhere.
According to court documents, the DPRK government dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers to live abroad, primarily in China and Russia, with the aim of deceiving U.S. and other businesses worldwide into hiring them as freelance IT workers, to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.
The scheme, which has been ongoing for years, has generated hundreds of millions of dollars collectively each year, with individual IT workers earning up to $300,000 annually, as described in a May 2022 public service advisory released by the FBI, Department of the Treasury and Department of State.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, “Today’s announcement reveals the complex web of deception and facilitators that is central to the North Korean regime’s schemes to evade international sanctions to finance its weapons program.
The FBI and its partners are committed to leveraging everything at our disposal to disrupt North Korean IT workers from subverting the rule of law in order to fund the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction program,” said Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division.
The case against Vong is part of a Department-wide initiative – the DPRK RevGen: Domestic Enabler Initiative, which prioritizes high-impact, strategic, and unified enforcement and disruption operations across the U.S. Government targeting U.S.-based enablers of unlawful DPRK IT workers overseas.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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