Pakistani who allegedly defrauded US Postal Service remanded in NCCIA Lahore's custody

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LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday granted the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) a five-day physical remand of a suspect in an alleged Rs35 billion fraud involving the online sale of counterfeit US postage labels. The suspect, identified as a 33-year-old resident of Khanewal, had been charged by a Florida jury with defrauding the United States Postal Service (USPS) of $126 million, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida said on Sept 28. The NCCIA’s Lahore zone announced his arrest at a press conference a day ago, saying that the suspect operated a website to market and sell over 5m fake postage stamps over a period of more than three years. Subsequently, the man was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday, where the NCCIA sought his 14-day physical remand for interrogation. The agency’s investigating officer told the court that the suspect had allegedly been operating a website, LabelsBank.com, since August 2023 to sell more than 5 million counterfeit postage labels. Partially allowing the agency’s request, the court granted it a five-day physical remand of the suspect. According to the US Department of Justice, the website run by the Pakistani national was not authorised to sell USPS products and services. The counterfeit labels allegedly allowed customers to ship packages at rates “far below legitimate USPS prices”, it said, adding that it caused losses exceeding $126m to the postal service. US prosecutors alleged that the website sold the labels for around $2 each, regardless of a package’s weight, size or destination. A US court order authorised the seizure and shutdown of the website. On Tuesday, NCCIA’s Lahore Zone Additional Director Atif Ameer said eight special teams had been formed in Punjab, Islamabad and Sindh to trace the suspect and investigate the network. He said 16 bank accounts had been used in the scam, including some allegedly operated by his close relatives.

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