A Maryland man admitted in court to obtaining remote IT work at US companies on behalf of individuals located in China.
As part of the scheme, the man, Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, 40, of Bowie, defrauded 13 US companies that hired him as a remote software developer, by allowing others to use company-provided assets to do the IT work and receive payment for it.
To secure the jobs, Vong provided false statements about his education, experience, and training, falsely claiming that he had a Bachelor of Science degree and 16 years of experience in software development.
In January 2023, he submitted such a false resume with a Virginia-based technology company, for a web application developer role that required US citizenship. After verifying his identity and citizenship in March 2023, the company hired him.
Vong was assigned work on a contract for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an application that US government agencies used to manage sensitive information related to national defense.
The company provided Vong with a laptop and the FAA authorized the issuance of a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card to him, to access government facilities and systems.
After landing the job, Vong, who had no experience in software development, installed remote access software on the laptop so that a foreign national living in Shenyang, China, known as John Doe, and William James, could access the device and conceal his location.
Between March 2023 and July 2023, Doe performed software development work from his location in China, for which the Virginia-based company paid more than $28,000 in wages to Vang, who sent portions of the funds to Doe and other conspirators.
Vong admitted in court to engaging in similar schemes between 2021 and 2024 to obtain employment at 13 US companies on behalf of Doe and other overseas conspirators.
Some of these companies contracted the services to US government agencies, “which unknowingly granted Vong’s co-conspirators access to sensitive US government systems, which they accessed from China,” the Department of Justice notes.
Vong pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and faces up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled for sentencing on August 28.
Over the past couple of years, the US government has taken steps to disrupt “laptop farm” operations that enabled individuals overseas to secure remote jobs at US companies.
Some of these laptop farms were employed in North Korean fake IT worker schemes that funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Pyongyang regime. Hundreds of companies are believed to have been affected and the US has sanctioned or charged dozens of individuals involved.
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