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North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

theregister.com

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Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#141

Post by hsuduebc2 »

koliber wrote: post #116
hsuduebc2 wrote: post #102

>Alternatively, there is a killer interview question, as reported by The Register previously: ask them something like "How fat is Kim Jong Un?" and if they are a North Korean, they will terminate the call instantly. I wonder if they know that he is fat and are afraid to tell, or that it is strictly forbidden to answer these types of questions. I don't really believe this "hack" can work long term.

I’ve had the call terminate with such candidates after frankly stating that they are from North Korea and lying about everything. The person in front of the camera would try to maneuver out of it and then the call ended as if someone pulled the plug behind the scenes. I’ve built some pretty decent heuristics to identify them before wasting time on interviews.

It's that common to encounter them? How do you recognize this scam? The deepfakes are not good enough, or by something like accent?

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#142

Post by whattheheckheck »

dopesoap wrote: post #34
abtinf wrote: post #7

I’m a little unclear on the usage of the word “fake” here. Going by article, these are real people doing actual real work, they often use stolen identities to conceal information about themselves, and they get help from outside sources to do their jobs better. Whatever the right word is, it’s not “fake”. Maybe fraudulent? Or ulterior motives? Or deceptive? Or pretext? Or threat actor? Or foreign agents?

It's North Korea though and they're all eViL. Imagine a world where the U.S lifted sanctions on N.K. traded with them and stopped crying about losing a war 70 years ago. Ah well a boy can dream. Edit: Lol saying anything positive about North Korea on hacker news and people instantly freak out. This fucking website man. North Korea isn't what I would call a free society but it's also not the hell on earth that most li…

Have you read Escape from Camp 14? It absolutely is a dire human rights catastrophe

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#144

Post by baggy_trough »

skinnymuch wrote: post #105
bit-anarchist wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But wage slavery, while bad, isn't slavery still. In slavery proper, the option of walking away straight up doesn't exist. In fact, in extreme cases, even the option of dying might not be available.

It is slavery. Chattel slavery is much more severe than what we normally consider slavery. Yet “slavery” and chattel slavery are both still slavery. The reason what you’re saying is so accepted is because we are currently living under a universal liberal world order that says wage slavery id freedom.

According to the dictionary, you are wrong. Somebody who works for a wage is not the property of their employer.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#145

Post by erxam »

dopesoap wrote: post #103
mikkupikku wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even other communist dictatorships are pretty sick of North Korea's shit!

Wow so you guys don't have ideological brain worms at all. I can tell you guys have never studied international relations because you refuse to try an take North Koreas concerns seriously. Do I have to remind you that a South Korean attempted a fascist coup recently and that it was left wing organisations and trade unions that mobilised to stop him? Also which "communist dictators" are you talking about, and how do y…

> Wow so you guys don't have ideological brain worms at all.

You have to remember that the supermajority of this site are ultra AnCaps who believe that anything which infringes upon the right of companies to kill people is Communist satanism and a significant minority agrees wholeheartedly with Peter Thiel's weird brand of techno-accelerationism and actively participates in NRx movements.

Like, I understand what you want to get at and I wholeheartedly agree! Just don't be too surprised at the pushback.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#146

Post by Gud »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #44
sam-cop-vimes wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - this is closer to bonded labor though the paying employer doesn't know it. Instead most of their earnings go to their actual employer (which is the North Korean state). "slave" maybe is more appropriate? "prisoner"?

most of my earnings go to my employer too... we bill clients at X and I get a small portion of it

More realistically, your employer gets a small portion of your labour output.

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#147

Post by koliber »

hsuduebc2 wrote: post #141
koliber wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had the call terminate with such candidates after frankly stating that they are from North Korea and lying about everything. The person in front of the camera would try to maneuver out of it and then the call ended as if someone pulled the plug behind the scenes. I’ve built some pretty decent heuristics to identify them before wasting time on interviews.

It's that common to encounter them? How do you recognize this scam? The deepfakes are not good enough, or by something like accent?

Never had a deepfake.

I am recruiting in Poland, they say that they're Polish, have very Polish names, but they are clearly not Polish and not in Poland.

It's easy enough to spot their resume's if you know what you're looking for. If you're interested, I can share, but email me (email is in my HN profile).

Re: North Korean's 100k fake IT workers net $500M a year for Kim

#148

Post by tt24 »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #97
tt24 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like having a w2 is a pretty good deal for you then. Slavery isn’t defined by “I don’t want to talk away because the deal is too good”, it’s more like “I’m unable to walk away because I’m threatened with force if I do so”

I moved to Canada instead of tying myself to a w2

Guess you were never a slave then.
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