Two Southern California brothers were sentenced to prison for defrauding the U.S. Postal Service out of millions of dollars.
Anwer Fareed Alam, 36, and Yousofzay Fahim Alam, 34, carried out the years-long scheme through an insurance fraud operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
From October 2016 to May 2019, the brothers purchased Priority Mail packages and postages that included $100 in insurance for lost or damaged parcel contents.
Anwer wrapped either empty packages or packages that contained items of little to no value before mailing them to fake recipients at fake addresses, prosecutors said.
Anwer’s brother, Yousofzay, then submitted fraudulent insurance claims on USPS’ website claiming their packages were damaged or lost. He falsely claimed the packages contained expensive or valuable items which was untrue, court documents said.
To bolster their claims, fake invoices and photographs of items that were not actually inside the packages were also sent to USPS.
The brothers used aliases and fake business names to hide the number of false insurance claims they submitted throughout the years.
USPS accepted the fake claims and agreed to cover each package loss up to $100 plus the cost of shipping. Checks were sent by mail to multiple addresses in Temecula that were provided by the brothers which included their homes, businesses and around 15 different post office boxes at two different post offices.
Through this scheme, the brothers stole around $2,135,739 from the USPS, federal officials said.
On Feb. 16, the brothers both pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. On Nov. 1, they were sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to jointly pay $2,135,739 in restitution.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.