The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued wanted notices for four North Korean nationals who allegedly faked remote employment at a U.S. blockchain firm and stole cryptocurrency, offering a substantial reward.
On the 1st (local time), according to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia issued federal arrest warrants for four North Korean men in their 20s who are charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering on the 24th of last month.
The U.S. prosecutors and FBI revealed the names and ages of the four individuals as Gen. Kim Kwan-jin (27), Kang Tae-bok (28), Jeong Bong-joo (28), and Chang Nam-il (26), who are accused of stealing $915,000 (approximately 1.24 billion won) worth of cryptocurrency from a U.S. company in 2022 and conspiring to launder the money.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment the day before through a press release. According to the indictment, they possessed travel documents issued by North Korea and crossed into the United Arab Emirates to work together, disguising their identities to gain remote employment at a blockchain research and development company based in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2020 to 2021.
After gradually gaining the trust of their employer, they obtained access to cryptocurrency assets and used a method of changing the source code to embezzle a total of $915,000 (approximately 1.24 billion won) worth of cryptocurrency.
The FBI stated that it posted wanted notices for these individuals on its website along with photos, offering a reward of up to $5 million (approximately 680 million won) for information related to them.
The FBI also noted that these individuals are believed to speak English and have connections to the United Arab Emirates and Laos.