A Ukrainian national was sentenced to five years in a US prison for selling stolen identities to fraudulent North Korean workers and for facilitating the operation of laptop farms.
The man, Oleksandr Didenko, 29, of Kyiv, Ukraine, also known as Alexander Didenko, pleaded guilty in a US court in November 2025 to helping North Korean IT workers obtain employment at US companies.
According to documents presented in court, Didenko operated the Upworksell.com domain, allowing overseas IT workers to buy or rent the stolen identities of US citizens.
Using these identities, IT workers obtained employment using online freelance work platforms in California and Pennsylvania, which allowed them to create free accounts, advertise themselves, and bid on IT work contracts.
The court documents also allege that Didenko paid individuals in the US to host laptop farms at residences in Virginia, Tennessee, and California. He allegedly managed 871 proxy identities and supported the operation of at least three laptop farms.
Didenko’s activities enabled overseas individuals to access the US financial system without physically opening bank accounts in the US and to transfer employment income to foreign bank accounts.
According to the documents presented in court, Didenko’s overseas clients received hundreds of thousands of dollars for their work at 40 US companies.
On May 16, 2024, the Upworksell.com domain was seized, and Didenko was arrested in Poland. He was extradited to the US on December 31, 2024.
In November 2025, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft and agreed to forfeit more than $1.4 million.
Didenko was sentenced to 60 months in prison and 12 months of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $46,000 in restitution.
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