2 Temecula Brothers Sentenced To Prison In $2.1M Mail Fraud Case

TEMECULA, CA — Two brothers from Temecula were sentenced to federal prison after they were accused of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service out of more than $2.1 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.

Anwer Fareed Alam, 36 and Yousofzay Fahim Alam, 34, were sentenced to 27 months in prison and were ordered to jointly pay $2.1 million in restitution, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Central District of California.

The Alam brothers pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 to one count of mail fraud.

From October 2016 to May 2019, the brothers bought packages and postages that included $100 in insurance for lost or damaged parcels. Answer wrapped empty packages containing little or no value, then he sent them through Priority Mail to fake recipients at fake addresses.

Meanwhile, Yousofzay submitted fraudulent insurance claims to the Postal Service's website and falsely documented that the packages contained items of higher value. They lied that the packages were lost or had been damaged during the delivery. He then included false invoices and photographs of products that were not inside the packages.

The pair reportedly used aliases and fake business names to hide the number of fake insurance claims they filed.

The USPS sent checks to the Alam brothers to cover the losses they reported of up to $100 in value — plus shipping costs. Claim checks arrived in the mail to various addresses in Temecula, which included their home addresses, business addresses and 15 different post office boxes at two separate post offices.

The money was then deposited into their personal bank accounts, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In November 2018, for example, the brothers lied to get a Priority Mail claim check of $106.59, which was then mailed to a business address in Temecula.