The Gru Clue

Cardboard cutout of Gru (Advanced Graphics)

North Korean scammers have infiltrated the American work force. One of the crooks' distinguishing features is a fondness for the fictional "Despicable Me" villain Gru.

The FBI believes thousands of North Koreans have infiltrated the U.S. workforce by assuming the identities of Americans to secure remote jobs. Many of them, investigators have found, are bound by a few defining characteristics: total devotion to Dear Leader Kim Jong Un, a penchant for stealing cryptocurrency and an obsession with Minions, the cuddly agents of evil from “Despicable Me.”

The North Koreans’ love of the animated movie franchise has become a recurring, if slightly baffling, joke among the security researchers who investigate them.

Many of these fake workers use Minions and other “Despicable Me” characters in social-media profiles and email addresses. Some investigators initially thought their use of “Gru” was a reference to Russia’s famed GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. Instead it was a tribute to the Minions overlord, Felonious Gru Sr., the Steve Carell-voiced animated character who tries to steal the moon.

My 2025 bingo card didn't have the Gru clue as a scam detector.