FBI Seizes 187 Devices in Texas Laptop Farm Searches

Federal prosecutors said the FBI searched more than 40 residences in Texas and seized 187 laptops and other devices in an operation targeting North Korean fake-worker schemes. The searches, part of Operation Lonestar Roundup, focused on laptop farms used to help overseas operatives pose as U.S.-based remote employees. The devices included employer-issued computers that U.S.-based facilitators received, configured and housed, allowing workers overseas to access them remotely, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors said about 100 of the seized devices were recovered in North Texas. FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said each laptop potentially represented a company that had hired a North Korean information technology worker. The scheme relied on false or stolen identities and methods to disguise workers’ locations, including virtual private networks and proxy infrastructure. Once companies sent computers to supposed employees, facilitators could install remote-access tools and enable overseas workers to operate the devices from within U.S. corporate networks.