Pakistan arrests man hunted by US over $126m postage fraud case

ByAnbarasan Ethirajan and Fan Wang.

Key points

• According to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the 33-year-old from Khanewal, Pakistan, operated LabelsBank.com.
• Earlier this month, the US Postal Inspection Service offered a reward of up to $100, 000 for information leading to his arrest.
• Pakistan's cybercrime agency has arrested a man accused of running a counterfeit operation that caused $126 million (£94m) in losses to the US Postal service.
• An investigation discovered that more than 5, 200 individuals purchased more than 5.1 million counterfeit shipping labels, the office stated in a press release.
• Faheem Akram is accused of having sold fake stamps via a fraudulent website in the US since 2023.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida last month for selling more than five million counterfeit shipping labels to thousands of US customers over the years. Authorities have now shut down the website.

US prosecutors alleged that he sold counterfeit US postage at a fixed rate regardless of a package's weight, size or destination.

For context, the counterfeit labels, usually sold at $2 each, allegedly allowed customers to ship packages at rates far below legitimate rates, resulting in substantial lost revenue and shipping costs to the Postal Service.

Notably, an investigation discovered that more than 5, 200 individuals purchased more than 5.1 million counterfeit shipping labels, the office stated in a press release.

Akram is charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to create 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 penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy and counterfeit postage counts, and 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count, the office remarked.

For now, pakistan arrests man hunted by US over $126m postage fraud case remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.