Pakistani authorities have arrested Faheem Akram, a 33-year-old man from Khanewal in Punjab province, on suspicion of running an online counterfeit postage operation that U.S. prosecutors say cost the United States Postal Service more than $126 million in lost revenue and shipping charges. The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency said Tuesday that Akram was taken into custody after a 10-day operation that involved questioning 47 people and analyzing 122 call records.

What U.S. prosecutors allege

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted Akram in late September on charges tied to LabelsBank.com, a website the Justice Department says was not authorized to sell Postal Service products. Court filings cited by U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones allege that the site sold more than 5.1 million counterfeit shipping labels to more than 5,200 customers, typically for a flat $2 per label regardless of a package’s weight, size or destination.

Because legitimate postage would have cost far more for many of those parcels, inspectors say the scheme allowed shippers to move goods at deeply discounted rates while the Postal Service absorbed the difference. The $126 million figure reflects estimated losses to the agency, not money Akram personally collected. Alongside the indictment, a court order authorized seizure of the domain and shutdown of the site, which U.S. Postal Inspection Service officials in Miami announced earlier this month.

How Pakistan says it tracked him

NCCIA officials told reporters in Lahore that Akram operated the website from August 2023 through September 2026 and routed payments through 16 bank accounts, including accounts linked to his brother, wife, sister and aunt. Agency spokesperson Atif Ameer described raids across several parts of the country before the arrest. The agency registered a case under Pakistani cybercrime law and said investigations are continuing, though it did not publicly detail where or how Akram was apprehended.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service had listed Akram as wanted and offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction, warning the public not to attempt to apprehend him. Pakistani officials framed the detention as cooperation against cross-border digital fraud rather than a completed extradition. It remains unclear whether Akram will be sent to the United States to face the Florida charges or tried first in Pakistan.

Charges and penalties if convicted in the U.S.

The indictment includes one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make and sell counterfeit postage stamps, five counts of making and selling counterfeit postage labels, and four counts of wire fraud. The Justice Department says Akram could face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy and counterfeit counts and up to 20 years on each wire-fraud count if convicted. Like all defendants, he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

For American businesses and consumers, the case highlights how counterfeit labels can distort shipping markets: discounted postage that looks legitimate on a parcel can still trigger enforcement once inspectors trace label batches. Postal officials have urged merchants to buy postage only through authorized USPS channels and to treat steeply underpriced label sellers as a compliance risk.

What happens next

U.S. and Pakistani officials have not announced a timeline for any extradition request or shared evidence transfer. Florida prosecutors will need authenticated records from NCCIA searches, banking traces and server logs if they pursue a trial in federal court. In Islamabad, the cyber agency’s zero-tolerance messaging suggests additional arrests are possible if investigators tie other accounts to the LabelsBank network.

Until courts in either country rule, the operational question for the Postal Service is how much of the alleged loss can be recovered and whether similar fixed-price label sites remain active under new domains. Inspectors have not said publicly whether other operators are under investigation.