A Filipino accused of financial fraud was deported from Indonesia, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Thursday.

In a press briefing, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said Hector Pantollana, likely the head of a fraud group, had been hiding in Indonesia but their police helped the PNP to repatriate him.

“We just implemented several warrants against Pantollana who was accused of scamming, duping several persons of large amounts of money. These arrest warrants against him were there since last year and we saw him in Indonesia. With the help of the Indonesian police, we were able to arrest and have him extradited,” Torre said.

He said Pantollana’s scamming business has operations nationwide and that he has victimized hundreds of people, including well-known personalities and overseas Filipino workers.

“Basically they were able to convince people to invest their hard-earned money in various businesses which he says have high yields and high returns,” he said.

“We have warrants from Cebu, we have warrants from Mindanao, we have warrants from Visayas, we have warrants in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and in many other places. There was one investor who claimed that he lost P200 million,” he added.

Torre warned the public to be alert against investment scams.

“If anyone out there is considering giving money to people who claim, ‘We have SEC (Security Exchange Commission) registration, we’ll issue you checks, and we promise returns of 15 to 20 percent monthly,’ please do not join or believe them. Most likely, it’s a scam,” Torre said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS