Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents

A top Amazon executive has said the U.S. technology giant has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.

North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities, Amazon's chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.

"Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime's weapons programs," he said, adding that this trend is likely to be happening at scale across the industry, especially in the U.S.

Authorities in the U.S. and South Korea have warned about Pyongyang's operatives carrying out online scams.

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