Amazon has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents trying to get remote IT jobs. Stephen Schmidt, Amazon’s chief security officer, said on LinkedIn that these agents use stolen or fake identities. "Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime's weapons programs," he said. Mr Schmidt noted that this trend could be widespread, especially in the US tech sector. He said North Korean operatives often work with people managing "laptop farms." These are computers based in the US but controlled remotely from outside the country. Amazon uses AI tools combined with staff verification to screen job applications. The fraudsters have become more clever. They hijack dormant LinkedIn accounts using leaked passwords to seem genuine. They also target real software engineers’ profiles. Mr Schmidt urged companies to report suspicious applications. He warned employers to check for signs like wrongly formatted phone numbers and mismatched education records. In June, the US government revealed 29 illegal "laptop farms" operated by North Korean IT workers. These workers used stolen or fake American identities to get US jobs. The US Department of Justice charged brokers who helped place these operatives. In July, a woman in Arizona received over eight years in jail for running a laptop farm for North Korean workers. The scheme helped more than 300 US companies unknowingly hire these operatives. It generated over $17 million in illegal profits for her and Pyongyang.