Faheem Akram, 33, was arrested on Tuesday following a nationwide manhunt and raids across Pakistan, a senior official at Pakistan's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency said.
According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida last month, Akram is accused of operating a fraudulent website that sold more than 5.1 million counterfeit stamps in the United States. The stamps, priced at about $2 each, allowed customers to send packages at below official rates, causing substantial losses to the United States Postal Service.
The US Attorney's Office said the estimated loss of more than $124 million represents the Postal Service's losses, not the proceeds taken in by the website.
Pakistani investigators found that Akram had run the website since August 2023 and used 16 bank accounts, including his own and those of several family members, to carry out the scheme.
Akram faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit postage stamps, and four counts of wire fraud. Each wire fraud count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the conspiracy charge carries a maximum of five years.
Akram is currently being held in Pakistan, but it is not yet clear whether he will be tried there or extradited to the United States.
