Alleged Coupon Ringleaders Arrested for Counterfeit Coupon F...

Washington, DC - U.S. postal inspectors arrested two South Florida men on September 3, 2026, for their involvement in a nationwide fraud scheme involving counterfeit coupons. Nikolay Saukov, 60, was arrested for mail fraud and concealment money laundering, and Andrei Zaretski, 49, was arrested for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud for the sale of more than $7 million in counterfeit coupons. A co-conspirator, Oleksiy Holikov, is still at-large.

The three men were doing business as The Weekly Coupon Service (WCS), an alleged criminal conspiracy, which produced and sold counterfeit coupons for consumer goods with drastically inflated values. The artificially inflated values resulted in a significant loss to product manufacturers and, at times, the stores in which those goods are sold. These coupons were sold and shipped nationwide.

Customers of WCS received regular solicitation emails, with links directing them to GitHub repositories. These sites were then made to outwardly appear as basic websites where users could buy coupons via a digital wallet.

"The criminals in this case targeted people who were trying to save money, leaving manufacturers and businesses to pay the ultimate price. Anyone who thinks they can build a criminal enterprise by defrauding the public, think twice. We will follow the money, uncover your scheme, and hold you accountable," said Eric Shen, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Criminal Investigations Group.

The Postal Inspection Service is grateful to the Coupon Information Center, an association of consumer product manufacturers that fights coupon misredemption and fraud, for its work to keep the public safe from coupon fraud.

To help avoid fraud, postal inspectors remind consumers legitimate postage must be purchased from Approved Postal Providers. Additionally, if they have purchased counterfeit coupons from WCS, they should not use them. Individuals using these counterfeits could be subject to prosecution. Victims of the WCS scam should retain all records pertaining to the counterfeit coupons, to include, but not limited to emails, financial records, and any remaining counterfeits along with the envelopes used to mail them if needed by law enforcement in the future.