WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — 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.
Oleksandr Didenko pleaded guilty on Nov. 10, 2025, to wire fraud conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, agreeing to forfeit more than $1.4 million.
According to court documents, Didenko ran a website using a U.S.-based domain, “Upworksell.com,” use to help IT workers overseas steal identities. Beginning in 2021, workers would use the stolen identities to get hired for freelance work in California and Pennsylvania.
Didenko managed as many as 871 proxy identities, using at least three U.S.-based “laptop farms.” 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 work, falsely reporting it to the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS and Social Security Administration in the names of actual U.S. persons whose identities had been stolen.
On May 16, 2024, the Justice Department seized the online domain, Upworksell.com, and diverted all traffic to the FBI. Polish authorities arrested Didenko and on Dec. 31, 2024, extradited him to the United States.
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