FBI shuts down over 40 North Korean laptop farms in Texas, seizes 200+ devices

FBI Dismantles 40 North Korean Laptop Farms in Texas

The FBI has dismantled a major North Korean laptop farm operation in the United States with assistance from CrowdStrike, which helped identify and disrupt the networks. According to The New York Times, the agency shut down more than 40 laptop farms in Texas, resulting in the seizure of over 200 devices. No arrests have been made so far, as authorities wanted to take down the operations as soon as possible and did not wait for prosecutors to file charges against those involved. Officials warned that the participants could face criminal penalties if they continue to be involved with remote fraud.

A Growing Scheme Despite Sanctions

North Korea has been using fake remote workers to earn income despite the economic sanctions placed against the country. It has been reported that it earns around $500 million a year under this scheme, which affects both startups and Fortune 500 companies. Amazon's IT department caught one North Korean infiltrator after noticing a 110 millisecond keyboard input lag that betrayed the worker's distant location.

The United States has been clamping down on this scheme since last year, when it shut down 29 North Korean laptop farms across 16 states that were facilitating the employment of North Korean IT workers at more than a hundred US companies.

The Role of Facilitators

Facilitators are the crucial aspect that North Korea's operations rely on. These are people based in the United States who help bypass security measures by hosting the work laptops that companies send to the fraudulent North Korean IT workers, making it appear as if they are based in the country. Adam Meyers, who is in charge of CrowdStrike's counter adversary operations, described the dynamic: they get kind of hooked on it initially, then more gets asked of them, and they are kind of in too deep at that point.

Meyers says the scheme is increasing both in prevalence and complexity. He noted that it is difficult to know how truly widespread the problem is, and that even though CrowdStrike identified an average of two new cases daily last month, it was most probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Recent Convictions and Indictments

Four US citizens and a Ukrainian national were convicted over scams like this in November 2025. The Justice Department recently unsealed indictments against two US citizens and 10 China-based North Koreans. Prosecutors said that the last group defrauded more than $3 million from 70 companies over a span of six years from 2019, and that the identities of two more individuals involved in the case remain under seal.

Sources: Tom's Hardware