A prime suspect in the alleged US Postal Service fraud, a scheme said to have caused losses of more than $126 million, has been arrested in Lahore, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) announced on Tuesday. The suspect is accused of running a website that sold counterfeit postage to customers in the United States.
Who Is the Suspect?
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida had earlier identified the suspect as a 33-year-old man from Khanewal. A federal grand jury in Florida indicted him last month. US authorities have named him as Faheem Akram. The charges are one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make and sell counterfeit postage, five counts of making and selling counterfeit postage labels, and four counts of wire fraud. The conspiracy and counterfeit postage counts carry a maximum of five years in prison each, while each wire fraud count carries a maximum of 20 years. The charges remain allegations and no conviction has been recorded.
How the US Postal Service Fraud Allegedly Operated
Announcing the arrest at a press conference, NCCIA Lahore Zone Additional Director Atif Ameer said the suspect operated a website, LabelsBank.com, from August 2023 to September 2026. According to the agency, more than five million counterfeit stamps were sold through the site at around $2 each. Based on the alleged volume of sales, the NCCIA estimated the total value of the transactions at approximately Rs35 billion.
US prosecutors have described the scheme as simple but massive. They allege that the website sold counterfeit postage at fixed, cut-rate prices regardless of a package’s weight, size or destination, allowing customers to avoid legitimate postal charges. They say more than 5.1 million counterfeit labels were sold to over 5,200 customers, and that the operation caused the US Postal Service more than $126 million in lost revenue and shipping costs. The US Postal Inspection Service’s Miami Division investigated the case. US authorities have said the website was shut down and its domain seized, and the postal inspection service had also offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.
The Money Trail
The NCCIA said its investigation focused heavily on the financial channels used to receive and move proceeds. Mr Ameer said 16 bank accounts had been used in the scam. Seven were operated by the suspect, five by his brother, two by his wife, and one each by his sister and aunt. The agency said it is examining transactions across all 16 accounts and the flow of funds between them. It added that the role of family members, and of any other individuals who operated the website, processed orders, received payments or distributed the counterfeit postage, is also being probed.
An Investigation Spanning Three Regions
Flanked by Lahore NCCIA Deputy Director Waqas Saeed, Mr Ameer said eight special teams had been formed in Punjab, Islamabad and Sindh to trace the suspect and investigate the network. According to the agency, the teams conducted raids at 35 locations and questioned 47 people. Investigators also analysed 122 call-data records, 50 IMEI-tracking reports and recordings from 120 cameras. A locator operation continued for 10 days to establish the suspect’s whereabouts, and the NCCIA said artificial intelligence and other modern technological tools were used during the inquiry.
What Remains Unclear
The NCCIA said investigators are still working to establish the full scale of the operation and to verify the volume and value of the transactions. Earlier US statements did not disclose where the suspect was located. The reports reviewed for this article do not say whether the US charges will lead to proceedings against him in Pakistan or elsewhere. Further details are likely to emerge as the agency completes its analysis of the bank accounts and of the roles played by others.
The arrest is notable for the scale of the alleged US Postal Service fraud and for the cross-border cooperation implied by an operation that US authorities say they dismantled from abroad. Until the courts rule on the allegations, the suspect remains presumed innocent.
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