Maryland woman sentenced for aiding and abetting deposit of counterfeit Treasury check

Date: Nov. 2, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Portland, ME – A Maryland woman, formerly of Westbrook, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for aiding and abetting the presentation of a counterfeit government check to her credit union.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. sentenced Palwasha Shir to 24 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Shir was also ordered to pay $290,947 in restitution. Shir pleaded guilty on June 23, 2026.

According to court records, Shir was the sole owner of The Selfie Room LLC, a business Shir registered in Maine. Shir opened a checking account for The Selfie Room at a credit union in Maine. In July 2024, Shir caused a counterfeit Treasury check made payable to The Selfie Room in the amount of $291,203 to be deposited in the account. In August 2024, Shir caused a counterfeit Treasury check made payable to The Selfie Room in the amount of $193,107 to be deposited in the account. The serial numbers and amounts on the checks matched those of genuine tax refund checks issued by the IRS to entities other than The Selfie Room and unrelated to Shir. The counterfeit checks changed the payee and address to make the checks payable to The Selfie Room. When a representative of the credit union called Shir to discuss the checks, Shir falsely claimed that she received the checks from the IRS.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 16 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.