00:00Arizona resident Christina Chapman takes what may be one of the longest walks of her life,
00:16trailed by a documentary crew. She's going to court for sentencing after pleading guilty
00:23to criminal charges including wire fraud and identity theft.
00:26Ms. Chapman, I'm Ivan Watson with CNN. Did you know that you were working with North Koreans?
00:33U.S. law enforcement says Chapman ran laptop farms for North Korea.
00:38She was involved with an extremely dangerous and serious and sophisticated criminal scheme
00:43in which individuals were directed by the government of North Korea to apply for
00:48information technology jobs to make it appear that they were either U.S.-based workers or
00:54workers in third-party countries that were not sanctioned.
00:57Hi, everybody. I'm a TikTok fan.
01:00Chapman documented her life extensively on TikTok from poverty in 2021.
01:06I'm classified as homeless in Minnesota.
01:09To two years later when she had a new job in what she described as the computer business.
01:14It allowed her to rent this house in Arizona.
01:16I start at 5.30, go straight to my office, which is the next door away from my bedroom.
01:24And in September 2023, Chapman took a trip to Japan.
01:28I'm currently in Japan, which is crazy.
01:32But the next month, the FBI raided Chapman's house, seizing more than 90 laptops and accusing
01:38her of helping North Koreans use stolen and purchased U.S. identities to get remote I.T. worker jobs
01:45at more than 300 U.S. companies, earning North Korea more than $17 million, including at least
01:53$75,000 that the shoe giant Nike paid unwittingly to a North Korean employee.
02:00Authorities say Nike has since conducted an investigation following the incident.
02:05Why is this case important?
02:07It's funneling money back to North Korea, which is sanctioned for its nuclear weapons program.
02:13So in other words, we are resourcing one of the most hostile nations in the world funding
02:18their weapons program.
02:22How much of a risk are these North Korean fake I.T. worker schemes to American companies?
02:30Extraordinary.
02:31We've had examples where intellectual property rights are stolen.
02:35Confidential company information is stolen.
02:37We've even had cases where some of these North Korean I.T. workers extort the company whose data
02:43they're stealing.
02:45If you post remote software engineering jobs and those positions are listed on a site like Indeed,
02:52I can guarantee you, you are fielding resumes from North Korea.
02:55Brian Jack knows firsthand. Last year, his company unwittingly hired a North Korean and only discovered
03:03something was wrong when the individual tried to install malware onto a laptop the company shipped him.
03:09If you don't know what to look for, you're very likely going to get scammed or in a lot of cases
03:15have already been scammed.
03:17Now, he says his teams are experts on spotting North Korean job applicants.
03:23In the last year, I know of and have looked at at least a hundred North Korean resumes.
03:28Jack says the North Koreans flood job application sites with fake profiles.
03:33They often use similar generic names and almost identical job and educational experience.
03:39They also use AI-generated photos and even AI face filters.
03:45Like, are you using something to, like, change your camera view?
03:49Such as this one, where the man on the left used a Caucasian filter to hide his identity
03:54in an online job interview.
03:56I can see that you're using some kind of software.
03:59But in some cases, they show their real faces.
04:02Yeah, actually, I can commute to the office once a month, once a quarter.
04:06Totally, I have six years of experience working as a foreign agent.
04:11I can donate immediately.
04:12This is an instruction manual by them, for them.
04:18This is an instruction guide, a manual for how to create a fake ID.
04:22For, specifically for U.S.
04:24IT security expert Michael Barnhart has been collecting evidence
04:27that the North Koreans accidentally share.
04:31We've seen their chats, we've seen their emails, we've seen their faces.
04:35Photos taken by North Koreans in the office,
04:38yachting in a Chinese border region,
04:41and holding North Korean flags at a youth sporting event in far eastern Russia.
04:46And they've got everything documented.
04:48Their SOPs are there.
04:49They're saying...
04:49Barnhart is a U.S. Army veteran who deployed to Iraq as a teenager.
04:54Today, he focuses on North Korean cyber threats.
04:57He works with a group of self-proclaimed misfits and cybersecurity experts
05:13who expose false North Korean profiles.
05:16They gave CNN exclusive access to data sets that include the North Koreans' Google searches.
05:23They're looking for the word remote.
05:25They're looking for the word developer.
05:28Revealing how they pull off the scheme by downloading VPNs, remote working software,
05:33and using Google Translate to help set up job interviews.
05:36So when will I do a tech interview?
05:40In some cases, even leveraging ChatGPT to try to fit in with American society,
05:46asking questions like,
05:47I want to know about American football,
05:49and when is lunchtime in the USA?
05:53The Department of Justice estimates the fake IT worker scheme
05:57earns North Korea $225 to $600 million a year.
06:02Overseas criminal organizations view Americans as their own personal piggy bank.
06:08We can't let that happen.
06:10North Korea's foreign ministry responded to the U.S. prosecutions,
06:14calling them a smear campaign and the fabrication of cyber drama.
06:19U.S. law enforcement can't physically catch North Koreans.
06:23I was working remotely most of the time.
06:26Believed to be running their schemes out of China and Russia.
06:28But American laptop farmers are a different story.
06:33These schemes always happen with U.S.-based facilitators,
06:36whether they're financial facilitators allowing their bank accounts to be used,
06:40whether they're hosting laptop farms,
06:42or whether they're helping create or sell false identities.
06:46Do you have any message for North Korea?
06:49After pleading guilty to three criminal charges,
06:52Christina Chapman expressed remorse in court,
06:55saying she first took the job to support her sick mother.
06:58And she requested psychological counseling.
07:02Her prosecution is a warning to corporate America
07:04about the North Korean threat that can come with every job application.
07:11Moments ago, I watched a judge in this courthouse sentence Christina Chapman
07:15to eight and a half years in prison.
07:18He said the safety of the nation was at issue in this case.
07:22As for Ms. Chapman, she told the court, weeping,
07:27that she hates herself for what she did and that she feels like a monster.
07:34Can I give you a hug?
07:36Yes.
07:36I was in thekok hobbies.
07:51Can I give you a hug?
07:52I can give it to you.
07:53I can give it to me.
07:54Well, let me give it to you.
07:54Let me give you a hug.
07:54If I deal with it, I feel like I want to give it to you.
07:55I have to get to guys that you can give it to us all right.
07:57And get to me?
07:58Right, you will still get to ease of mind.
07:58I hope you're going to make it even for your firstbie.
08:00I can give it to each other event.
08:00I can give it to you guys.
08:01If you just accept the situation,
08:02and look for it.
08:02I'm proud to tap you.
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