Pakistan arrests man hunted by US over $126m postage fraud case
Faheem Akram allegedly sold more than 5 million fake postage labels for a fixed price of $2 a piece.
Pakistan arrests man hunted by US over $126m postage fraud case
Pakistan’s cybercrime agency has detained a man accused of running a counterfeit scheme that caused $126 million (£94m) in losses to the US Postal Service.
Faheem Akram is accused of selling fake stamps through a fraudulent website in the US since 2023.
He was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Florida for selling more than five million counterfeit shipping labels to thousands of US customers over the years. Authorities have now taken the website offline.
Earlier this month, the US Postal Inspection Service announced a reward of up to $100,000 for information that would lead to his arrest.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the 33-year-old from Khanewal, Pakistan, ran LabelsBank.com.
US prosecutors alleged that he sold counterfeit US postage at a fixed price, no matter a package’s weight, size or destination.
The counterfeit labels, typically sold for $2 each, allegedly let customers send packages at rates far below legitimate prices, causing major lost revenue and shipping costs for the Postal Service.
An investigation found that more than 5,200 people bought more than 5.1 million counterfeit shipping labels, the office said in a press release.
Akram is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make and sell counterfeit postage stamps, five counts of making and selling counterfeit postage stamp labels, and four counts of wire fraud.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy and counterfeit postage charges, and 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count, the office said.