FBI Miami investigates remote freelance IT workers using laptop farms

MIAMI – The FBI Miami Field Office is investigating a case related to a network of remote freelance IT workers who are defying U.S. sanctions.

According to Bryan Vorndran, the assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, North Korean agents are pretending to be based in the U.S. “to generate revenue.”

According to Devin DeBacker, a supervisory official of the Justice Department’s national security division, the revenue funds even “weapons programs.”

Federal prosecutors released statements by Vorndran and DeBacker with a 27-page indictment Thursday accusing five of participating in the scheme.

Two of the five are from North Korea, one is from Mexico, and two are from the United States. According to prosecutors, at least 64 U.S. companies, including a Miami-based cruise line and a staffing agency in Fort Lauderdale, fell for their scheme.

The two defendants from North Korea, Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song, allegedly used fake identifications and laundered the earnings through a Chinese bank account.

The two from the U.S., Erick Ntekereze and Emanuel Ashtor, allegedly received laptops from U.S. employers and installed remote access software on them.

The FBI raided Ashtor’s North Carolina home and accused him of operating a “laptop farm” that hosted victim company-provided laptops, according to the indictment.

Ashtor, formerly of New York, also co-owned Vali Tech, a staffing agency registered in Florida. Ntekereze, of New York, owned Taggcar, a staffing agency registered in Delaware.

Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, the Mexican defendant, allegedly allowed the North Koreans to use his identity. He was living in Sweden and was arrested on Jan. 10 in the Netherlands.

The two North Koreans, Alonso, Ntekereze, and Ashtor are facing charges of conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to transfer false identification documents.

The two North Koreans living in China are also facing charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The U.S. Treasury warned about the fraudulent scheme in 2022 reporting that it involved forced labor and human trafficking.

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