Pakistani national arrested over $126m US Postal Service fraud

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has arrested a man in Lahore for allegedly selling more than five million counterfeit US postage stamps, causing an estimated $126 million in losses to the US Postal Service.

NCCIA Lahore Zone Additional Director Atif Ameer said on Tuesday that the suspect, a 33-year-old from Khanewal, allegedly operated the website LabelsBank.com from August 2023 to September 2026 to sell the counterfeit stamps.

He said that more than five million stamps were sold online for about $2 each, with the total value of transactions estimated at around Rs35 billion.

The suspect had been identified by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which said last month that he allegedly ran an unauthorised website selling counterfeit US postage stamps.

Ameer said investigators had identified 16 bank accounts allegedly used to handle proceeds from the operation. Seven were operated by the suspect, five by his brother, two by his wife, and one each by his sister and aunt.

The agency is examining transactions through these accounts to establish how the money was received and transferred, as well as whether relatives or other individuals played a role in the business, he said.

Eight special teams were formed to investigate the case in Punjab, Islamabad and Sindh. They conducted raids at 35 locations and questioned 47 people, Ameer said.

Investigators also analysed 122 call-data records, 50 IMEI-tracking reports and footage from 120 cameras, using digital and forensic methods to trace the suspect and identify people linked to the operation.