Temecula brothers get more than two years in prison for insurance fraud scheme that defrauded Postal Service of $2.1 million – Press Enterprise

LOS ANGELES — Two Temecula brothers were sentenced to federal prison Friday for defrauding the U.S. Postal Service of more than $2.1 million by submitting thousands of fraudulent Priority Mail insurance claims.

Anwer Fareed Alam, 36, and Yousofzay Fahim Alam, 34, were each sentenced to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Wesley L. Hsu, who also ordered them to jointly pay $2,135,739 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office condemned.

Both Alam brothers pleaded guilty to mail fraud in February in downtown Los Angeles.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, from October 2016 to May 2019, the two submitted a series of “fraudulent insurance claims through the USPS website, falsely certifying that the packages (they mailed) contained items of greater value than they did, and lying.” “this too.” the packages were lost or damaged during transport.”

“Yousofzay Alam also attached false invoices as well as photos of goods that were not actually in the packages,” the agency said in a statement. “The Alam brothers used pseudonyms and false company names to increase the number of false ones they submitted Hide insurance claims.”

“Relying on the false information in the fake insurance application forms, USPS issued checks to the Alam brothers to cover their alleged losses worth up to $100 plus shipping costs,” the agency said.

The post office distributed insurance checks to the defendants at their homes and in more than a dozen mailboxes they maintained, prosecutors said.

“The brothers then deposited the fraudulently obtained funds into their bank accounts,” the government said. “The total loss caused to USPS by this system was at least $2,367,033.”

The USPS Inspector General's office eventually uncovered the plan

According to the documents, the men have no documented criminal history in federal court.