A Ukrainian man was sentenced to five years in prison in Washington, D.C., after spending years stealing the identities of U.S. citizens and selling them to North Korean workers to gain employment at U.S. companies, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
On November 10, 2025, Oleksandr Didenko pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, and he agreed to forfeit over $1.4 million.
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According to court documents, Didenkoran, a website using a US-based domain, “Upworksell.com,” was used to help IT workers overseas steal identities. Beginning in 2021, workers would utilize stolen identities to secure freelance work in California and Pennsylvania.
Didenko used at least three laptop farms in the United States to administer up to 871 proxy identities. Through his scheme, clients were able to access the U.S. financial system without having to physically open a bank within the U.S.
Didenko paid individuals in the U.S. to receive and host computers at residences in Virginia, Tennessee, and California.
The IT worker clients were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their services, which they falsely reported to the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS, and the Social Security Administration in the names of actual US citizens whose identities had been stolen.
On May 16, 2024, the Justice Department seized the web domain Upworksell.com and sent all traffic to the FBI. Polish officials apprehended Didenko and extradited him to the United States on December 31, 2024.
