LAHORE, Pakistan (Diya TV) — Pakistani authorities arrested Faheem Akram, 33, after a weeks-long search, as U.S. prosecutors accuse him of running an online counterfeit postage business that caused more than $126 million in losses to the U.S. Postal Service.
A federal grand jury in Florida indicted Akram on Sept. 28. Prosecutors say he operated LabelsBank.com, which sold more than 5.1 million counterfeit shipping labels to over 5,200 customers. The site charged about $2 per label, regardless of a package’s weight, size or destination. That flat price let customers ship packages below legitimate rates, while the Postal Service still handled and delivered them. Prosecutors’ $126 million estimate covers alleged postal losses, not the website’s sales revenue.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the Postal Service obtained a court order to seize the website and shut it down. Akram faces one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and make and sell counterfeit postage, five counts related to making and selling counterfeit labels, and four counts of wire fraud. If convicted, he could face up to five years on the conspiracy and counterfeit-postage counts and up to 20 years on each wire-fraud count.
Atif Ameer, a senior official with Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, said investigators arrested Akram on Tuesday after raids in several parts of the country. Akram lives in Khanewal, in Punjab province. Ameer said investigators believe the website operated from August 2023 through September 2026 and used 16 bank accounts, including accounts held by Akram and relatives. Authorities have not alleged that those relatives knew about or took part in the business.
The arrest followed a U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigation. Officials have not said whether Pakistan will extradite Akram to the United States or prosecute him domestically. The indictment contains allegations; Akram is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charges in court.
