Filipino investment scam suspect deported from Indonesia

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MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino investment scam suspect listed in the Interpol notice was deported from Indonesia on Thursday, the Philippine Nation al Police – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said. 

The CIDG said that the fugitive, Hector Aldwin Pantollana, had been accused of scamming several persons of hundreds of millions of pesos. 

“Since last year pa yung warrants. Naabutan namin siya sa Indonesia with the help of the Indonesian police. They were able to arrest him,” CIDG Acting Director Brig.  Gen. Nicolas Torre III said in a press briefing. 

(The warrants have been there since last year. We found him in Indonesia with the help of the Indonesian police. They were able to arrest him.)

The CIDG, in a statement on Thursday said that “the official turnover of Pantollana to a CIDG personnel occurred at Terminal 2 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the presence of the Philippine Police Attaché to Indonesia.”

Pantollana arrived in the Philippines at 5:40 a.m.

Fifteen warrants of arrest for estafa and syndicated estafa have been issued against him.

He is currently detained at the Anti-Organized Crime Unit facility at Camp Crame in Quezon City. 

Torre said that Pantollana and his cohorts have scammed victims from across the country, and even overseas Filipino workers. 

“They have several covers in their operations. May (There’s) networking, junket… They were able to convince people to invest their hard-earned money in various businesses na sabi (they claims to be) high yield, high returns,” Torre added. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously filed a criminal complaint against Pantollana and 27 other leaders of casino junket operations for violating the Securities Regulation Code and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

The SEC found out that the individuals were soliciting investments from the public to fund their casino junket operations and financing activities. 

Scheming

One of the victims of Pantollana said that they were encouraged to invest their money because of promising investment offers in junkets.

The victim, who refused to be named, said that they first believed that the investment scheme was legitimate.

 “‘Yun pala, yung iniinvest namin, yun na yung ginagamit na pambayad sa interest na pinangako nila buwan-buwan. Yun pala, di na nag eexist yung junket. Sarado na yung junket house. Huli na po namin nalaman na sarado na yung junket house kasi magaling silang mang engganyo,” the victim said in an ambush interview. 

(Our investment is being used to pay the interest they promise to give monthly. The junket does not exist. The junket house is closed. We found out that the junket house was closed because they are good at encouraging.)

“Star power”

The victim also shared that what makes the investment scheme more believable is because Pantollana invited several well-known personalities to junkets and functions. 

 “Kung nakikita po namin na may bisita siya na medyo nasa society na tinitingala natin, iniidolo, so kami po, bilang simpleng mamamayan, di naman siguro magpapabaya ‘tong mga to. Na hindi sila mag iinvest kung di sila nag due diligence,” the victim added. 

 (If we see that they have visitors that we look up to, we think as ordinary citizens that they won’t be negligent. We think that they will not invest if they do not have due diligence.)

Meanwhile, Torre said that there is no formal agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia to swap Pantollana with Handoyo Salman, an Indonesian fugitive who was among the 42 foreigners arrested in a Pogo raid in Bataan. 

Salman is wanted in Indonesia for alleged money laundering, scam operations, and illegal online gambling.