Could your colleague be a North Korean in disguise?

Recently several videos from recruiters on LinkedIn have gone viral. The videos appear to show recruiters conducting routine job interviews over a video call, but something is up with the candidates. Their faces are blurred, and they appear to be using some sort of a filter. After some strange interaction with the recruiter, they drop off the call. But these creepy videos aren’t isolated incidents – many recruiters are reporting that this has happened to them multiple times. Who are these candidates really?

In this episode of BBC Trending we expose the phenomenon of North Korean IT workers applying for remote tech jobs in the US, and how this has become a significant revenue raising scheme for Kim Jong Un’s regime. The FBI believes thousands of North Koreans have made millions of dollars using fake, stolen of borrowed identities to work remotely.

We reveal the exploitative conditions the North Korean IT workers are forced to operate in, under near constant surveillance. And now, there’s evidence that the scheme is expanding into Europe, with those in the software development sector saying they are being inundated with North Korean applicants for work from home jobs.

Reporter: Beth Godwin
Producers: Beth Godwin and Julie Yoonnyung Lee
Editor: Flora Carmichael