Your New Senior Developer Does Not Exist.
Amazon’s CISO dropped a bomb on LinkedIn this week. Since April, Amazon has blocked 1,800 attempts by North Korean operatives to infiltrate their engineering teams. You read that right. 1,800.
You might think: "I'm not Amazon. Spies don't care about my $5M SaaS." You are wrong. They prefer you. Amazon has a security team of 500 people. You have one HR manager named Karen. You are the soft target.
In late 2025, the "Remote Hiring" landscape is a minefield. You aren't just risking bad code. You are risking Federal Prison for accidentally violating US Sanctions (OFAC) by sending USD to a nuclear regime.
Here is how the "Laptop Farm" scam works and why your standard Zoom interview is no longer enough.
1. The "Laptop Farm" Architecture
How does a developer in Pyongyang appear to be in San Francisco? They don't use a VPN. VPNs are too easy to detect. They use a "Laptop Farm."
- They hire a "Mule" in the US (usually a normal person looking for easy cash).
- They ship a company laptop to the Mule's house in Iowa.
- The Mule plugs it into their home Ethernet.
- The North Korean operative uses KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) remote software to control the laptop 24/7.
The Result: Your IT logs show the laptop is online in Iowa. The IP address is residential (AT&T/Comcast). There is no VPN signature. It looks perfect. But the person typing the code is 6,000 miles away.
2. The "Deepfake" Interview
"But I interviewed him on video! He was an American guy!" Was he? In 2025, Real-Time Deepfakes are standard issue for these groups. They use stolen identities of real US citizens (often stolen from LinkedIn). They overlay a generated face on top of the operative's face during the Zoom call.
- The Tell: Ask them to turn their head sideways. Ask them to put a hand in front of their face.
- The Glitch: Deepfake models struggle with occlusion (hands covering faces). If the face flickers, hang up.
3. The "OFAC" Nightmare (Why You Go to Jail)
This is not an "HR issue." It is a "Treasury Department" issue. If you pay this employee, you are sending money to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). That is a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
- The Penalty: Up to $350,000 per violation (per paycheck).
- The Jail Time: Up to 20 years for "Willful Violation."
The FBI has warned that these workers are using their salaries to fund ballistic missile programs. Do you want to explain to your Board that your Series A funding went to building a nuke?
The Real Numbers: The "Cost" of a Bad Hire
I compared the cost of verification vs. the cost of a breach.
| Metric | Standard Hire | "North Korean" Plant |
|---|---|---|
| Identity Check Cost | $50 (Basic Background) | $0 (If you skip it) |
| Salary Paid | $150,000 / year | $150,000 (Sent to Regime) |
| Ransom Risk | Low | 100% (They will plant malware) |
| Legal Fine | $0 | $1,000,000+ (OFAC Settlement) |
The Verdict: If you are hiring remote engineers in 2025, you must use Biometric Identity Verification (like Persona or Clear). A PDF of a driver's license is useless.
Frequently Asked Questions (That Scammers Hate)
How do I catch a Laptop Farm?
Send a physical hardware token. Don't just ship a laptop. Ship a YubiKey (2FA hardware) to the address. Require the employee to plug it in during a video call. If the "Mule" has the laptop but the "Operative" is on the call, they can't do it. The latency of coordinating the Mule to plug it in usually exposes the delay.
Why do they want these jobs?
Money. A Senior React Dev earns $150k. That is a fortune for the regime. They aren't always trying to hack you immediately. They often just want to work, get paid, and funnel the cash. But eventually, they are ordered to deploy ransomware or steal IP.
Can I just hire only in-office?
Yes, that fixes it. But you lose the talent pool. The middle ground is "In-Person Onboarding." Fly the candidate to your HQ for 3 days to onboard. North Korean operatives cannot fly to San Francisco. If they have a sudden "medical emergency" and can't travel? Red Flag. Rescind the offer.
Leon Staffing uses biometric verification and hardware-based location triangulation for every candidate. We don't place spies. Hire verified engineers here.