Poonam Sharma
In today’s hyper-connected world, tools like VPNs and virtual private servers (VPS) are marketed as shields for online privacy. But in the wrong hands, these same tools become dangerous weapons — and no one understands this better than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Two new U.S. court cases paint a shocking picture: a sophisticated North Korean cyber fraud scheme that could not have worked without coordination with China. Under the surface, what seems to be rogue behavior by North Korea is actually an example of advanced CCP “unrestricted warfare” — exploiting world systems for profit and influence.
Case One: The Arrest of Danny Wong
On July 21, Wang Jianxing, alias Danny Wong, was arrested in New Jersey by the FBI. He was accused of assisting North Korea with a far-reaching international fraud scheme. Wong is among nine defendants — the other eight are six Chinese nationals and two Taiwanese citizens, all still free.
The scheme depended on “helpers” in the United States who installed laptop farms in their residences. U.S. businesses would dispatch laptops to these “workers” without knowing they were being used by North Korean computer experts working out of Chinese cities along the China–North Korea border, such as Dalian and Shenyang.
They utilized stolen U.S. identities, fake IP addresses, and VPNs to impersonate American-based technology workers. They coded, maintained networks, and even infiltrated sensitive internal systems for U.S. firms. The money they made — and the information they stole — went straight into the coffers of the North Korean regime.
Between 2021 and 2024, they broke into more than 100 U.S. companies, including several Fortune 500 companies. This wasn’t an isolated hack; it was a prolonged campaign.
Case Two: The Chapman Network
Three days later, on July 24, another sentence fell — this time on an American.
Christina Marie Chapman, 50, of Arizona, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for operating a similar scheme. She directly communicated with North Korean IT agents, assisting them in defrauding 309 U.S. companies.
Chapman’s “laptop farm” was larger — during a raid in 2023, authorities confiscated 98 laptops at her house. At least 49 company-owned computers were shipped to Chinese cities close to North Korea by her.
Her network acquired some of the most sensitive angles of the American economy, including:
A U.S. top-five TV network
A Silicon Valley tech powerhouse
An aerospace company
A U.S. automaker
A luxury brand
A defense contractor with export-controlled access to military technology
She also pilfered the identities of 68 Americans, created fake paychecks, opened fictitious bank accounts, and laundered funds. Defense sensitive information is thought to have been pilfered.
The Real Puppet Master: China
On the surface, these attacks appeared to be North Korean cybercrime operations supported by a handful of corrupt actors. That was the explanation given by most media outlets and prosecutors. But the truth is more sinister.
North Korea would not have had the ability to do this on its own.
The nation is technologically isolated, economically cut off from the rest of the world.
In order to execute such a widespread, multi-year penetration of American businesses, they had to use Chinese infrastructure, intelligence, and networks.
Chinese security bureaus and spy agencies likely collaborated with Chinese nationals living in the U.S., facilitating North Koreans to earn solitary employment and clean stolen money — all while keeping low profiles.
Under this setup:
China receives the information
North Korea receives the funds
America foots the bill
By keeping the focus on “North Korean cybercrime,” the CCP escapes culpability yet still profits from the espionage.
Why the CCP’s Strategy Succeeds
This is the classic textbook example of the CCP’s “unrestricted warfare” doctrine — employing non-military strategies to undermine opponents.
The US government had already cautioned in May 2022 that North Korea was leveraging thousands of foreign IT professionals — numerous of whom were located in Chinese cities — to support its regime. In spite of that, the scams persisted for an additional three years, compromising unknown quantities of sensitive US data.
The cost disparity is mind-boggling:
For the crooks, operating the business is nearly free — their salaries are underwritten by the businesses they target.
For America, it costs taxpayers millions to investigate, prosecute, and clean up the openings. Even if all perpetrators are apprehended, the overall effect is one of loss.
From Cybercrime to Organ Harvesting: A Pattern of Industrialized Atrocity
This is not the first criminalization of CCP behavior by the CCP.
Twenty-five years ago, the government proclaimed Falun Gong a major enemy and locked up millions of practitioners. These were young, healthy individuals — and the CCP viewed them as biological resources.
Some were killed for their organs, which were being sold on the transplant market.
Their corpses were plastinated afterward and exhibited across the world in the notorious “Bodies” shows.
This was a first in the history of mankind — commercializing mass killings. The organs of the victims were sold, their bodies exhibited for ticketing purposes, and the world paid to view the consequences of persecution.
Because the world did not stop this cruelty, the model continues today. Organ transplant demand in China has skyrocketed, and children and young adults vanish in alarming numbers. Rich individuals — foreign nationals among them — journey to China for transplants, frequently with wait times of a few weeks. Where do the organs come from?
One Goal, Many Fronts
Whether it’s:
Cyber espionage masquerading as remote work, or
Organ harvesting masked behind the medical sector,
…the CCP’s aim remains the same: monetize horrors, make the world complicit, and skirt accountability.
The two crimes have the following commonalities:
They are state-facilitated sectors.
They take advantage of global systems — whether it’s corporate job recruitment platforms or global medical tourism.
They transfer the burden and risks onto victims and foreign states.
What the West Needs to Realize
The biggest threat is not the crimes themselves, but the failure of the West to envision such evil. We explain away, minimize, or segmentate — reducing them to “isolated incidents” rather than orchestrated state policy.
The reality is that the CCP has made criminality business. Espionage, hacking, persecution, even organ trafficking — they’ve all been mass-produced for political and economic returns.
Until the West ceases to view these actions as individual issues and realizes they are all part of one global plan, the CCP will keep on doing what it is doing — stealing secrets, spending our cash to do it, and getting away scot-free.
Conclusion
Danny Wong’s and Christina Chapman’s arrests are not only criminal cases — they’re warning signs. They indicate the ways the CCP employs proxies such as North Korea to fight war without firing a single shot, generating billions in the process while sabotaging its competitors.
If the West persists in thinking of such actions as “foreign cybercrime” rather than state-sponsored economic warfare, we shall be stuck in a losing game. The CCP has perfected the art of making its enemies finance their own defeat — and unless this fact is confronted squarely, it will continue to win
