NEW YORK, June 28: Six Pakistanis were indicted on Wednesday by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and organise a financial crimes enterprise, US law-enforcement authorities said.

They are: Abdul Hameed, of Houston, Texas; Bilal Saleem, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Naim Aslam Mann, of Baltimore, Maryland; Basir Chand, of Springfield, Virginia; Arshad Hussain, of Dumfries, Virginia; and Jawad Ahmad.

The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to devise a scheme in which they used various fraudulent identities that they controlled to obtain numerous credit card accounts, personal and business bank accounts, and mortgage loan accounts.

According to the indictment, the defendants established multiple false businesses to fabricate employment and salary information for the false identities, which were then provided to credit card companies, leasing offices, mortgage companies and financial institutions for the purpose of obtaining credit in the names of the false identities. The defendants also rented apartments and purchased properties using the false identities, and these locations were then used to receive mail from the lenders addressed to the false identities and businesses and to receive shipments of goods purchased.

The indictment further alleges that the defendants organised, managed and supervised a continuing financial crimes enterprise —that is, a series of violations of the mail fraud statute that affected a financial institution.