That’s what I’d label it. It would be a direct violation of the contracts we use since we have a clause preventing contractors from contracting out their work.

It's definitely not illegal in Ecuador, where I live, so no. More to the point, if they are getting the code they want, why should anyone care?

Yes. I think there is a strong market opportunity for recruiting companies that find remote employees who are really who they say they are and aren't running any kind of scam.

Becoming increasingly difficult.