FBI St. Louis seizes domains, disrupts funding to North Korean weapons programs

The FBI's St. Louis office announced Wednesday that it seized 17 website domains and $1.5 million in funding that North Korea has used to evade sanctions and produce ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

The agency said at a press conference Wednesday that North Korea used IT workers by hiding their identities and having U.S. companies unknowingly hire them. Workers stole those companies’ intellectual property, data and money to use toward weapons in North Korea.

St. Louis Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg said there have been victims in St. Louis, but officials declined to provide more details. According to the FBI, companies in St. Louis unwittingly contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Greenberg said once foreign IT workers have access to domains, an “insider threat” is posed.

“If it seems too good to be true that you’re being paid by someone you don’t know for access to use your technology, then it probably is,” Greenberg said.

FBI leaders said schemers use facilitators — most of whom are located in China and some in North Korea — who either unwittingly or wittingly facilitate who they allow on their internet databases.

Schemers also impersonate people by using their addresses and other identifiable information. Red flags in hiring can include a person being unwilling to appear on camera for video interviews or video meetings and undue concern about meeting in person or completing a drug test, the FBI reports.