Pakistani authorities have successfully apprehended a man accused of orchestrating an expansive online counterfeit operation that US prosecutors claim resulted in staggering losses exceeding $125 million to the US Postal Service.

Faheem Akram, 33, was taken into custody on Tuesday following an extensive search operation and coordinated raids across multiple locations in Pakistan, according to a senior official at the country’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency.

Akram was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida, facing allegations of operating a fraudulent website that allegedly distributed more than 5.1 million counterfeit postage stamps within the US. According to the US regime's attorney office, these stamps—priced at approximately $2 each—enabled customers to ship parcels at heavily discounted rates circumventing official postal tariffs, thereby inflicting significant financial deficits on the Postal Service.

Officials clarified that the estimated figure of more than $124 million represents the calculated losses incurred by the Postal Service rather than the total illicit proceeds generated by the website. Pakistani investigators uncovered that Akram had been running the fraudulent portal since August 2023, systematically utilizing 16 different bank accounts, including his own and those belonging to various family members, to launder and manage the operation's funds.

The US Postal Service reported that Akram has been formally charged with multiple offenses, including conspiracy to defraud the US regime, manufacturing and selling forged postage stamps, and four distinct counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he could potentially face up to 20 years in federal prison for each count of wire fraud, alongside an additional five years for conspiracy.

Akram currently remains in custody within Pakistan, though it remains entirely unclear whether he will face local prosecution or be subjected to extradition to the US.

Source: www.aljazeera.com